How can data help us to tell a story? As humans use machines, where does it start to become difficult? How does innovation make the world a better place?

These are just some of the questions Middle School students are contemplating through a newly redesigned technology program.

Jamie Chao Mignano, Director of Educational Technology and Innovation, and Sonia Chintha, Middle School Educational Technology Specialist, spent the last year revising pieces of Stone Ridge’s technology and innovation program. In the process, they amplified the School’s commitment to empowering students with the real-world skills they need to become intellectual citizens of the world.

“Through these reimagined curricula, our students have the opportunity to develop a systems-thinking approach to observing the world,” says Dr. Alex Sundman, Head of Middle School. “That skill alone is highly transferable. Systems thinking can help students grasp complexities within the ‘bigger picture’ and analyze data to develop solutions, as well as construct, evaluate, and sometimes even dismantle narratives.”

Middle School students now participate in mandatory technology seminars, which meet 10 times per semester and incorporate a “design challenge” at the end. While such learning opportunities are not uncommon at schools, Ms. Chintha noted that Stone Ridge is unique in making them a requirement.

“Not only are these seminars appropriately challenging, but they also set our students up to be lifelong learners and problem-solvers,” she said.

Taught by Ms. Chintha, the seminars for each grade build on their predecessors, year after year. Beginning in Grade 5, students learn how to organize themselves in a digital space, such as Google Drive, and come to understand the management systems they will need for academic success ahead at Stone Ridge and beyond.

Grade 6 students learn about data science as a tool for storytelling and seeing the world in a new way. To put theory to work, a data project serves as the design challenge for the year. This year’s Grade 6 students surveyed each other on lunch preferences at Stone Ridge, then developed a data story to visualize their findings and encourage the audience to take action. This practice, Ms. Chao Mignano noted, is crucial for innovation and understanding humanity.

“We’re focusing on storytelling as well as ‘data fiction’,” she said, referring to the use of data to blur the lines between reality and fiction. “As responsible modern citizens of the world, it’s important for students to ask about data sources, the methods of analysis, and other questions that may affect data and their stories.”

The Grade 7 seminar focuses on mechanical engineering. Students learn about the ways machines can help humans and how the ultimate role of engineers is to improve life for humans.

“We study the complexity of human and machine interactions and build on that foundation of systems thinking,” Ms. Chintha said. “Ideas for upcoming Grade 7 design challenges include creating a machine for a woman in your life to make her life easier or developing a machine to illuminate the work of an artist in a new way.”

In the final Middle School seminar, Grade 8 students move from mechanical to electrical engineering and are introduced to robotics. Students add electricity and block coding into their mechanisms.

“This year’s challenge is to create an interactive model for a song or short story,” Ms. Chintha explained. “Imagine if a musical artist was going on tour—students must create a set with at least one moving piece. These projects are similar to old-school dioramas, but featuring robotics.”

“It’s been great collaborating with faculty to help our students understand that innovation happens in all disciplines, that they have the skills to be innovators now and in the future, and that, as women, they are deserving of that space in the world.” –Middle School Educational Technology Specialist Sonia Chintha

Ms. Chintha also routinely collaborates with Middle School faculty across departments to incorporate technology and innovation into cross-disciplinary projects.

“From developing with [Social Studies Teacher] Dr. Bridget Riley artifacts based on women’s true but untold stories from colonization to a project with [Science Teacher] Mrs. Katie Klim highlighting the importance of NASA projects and learning how to communicate as scientists, the range of topics has been vast,” Ms. Chintha said. “It’s been great collaborating with faculty to help our students understand that innovation happens in all disciplines, that they have the skills to be innovators now and in the future, and that, as women, they are deserving of that space in the world.”

In addition to a revamp of the Middle School technology and innovation curricula, Stone Ridge recently completed its Makerspace, accessible to students and teachers alike. Stationed in Hamilton House, the updated space was designed in community: following a series of faculty focus groups and input from students in Middle School, the team strived to incorporate technology and other elements that truly matter to the campus community.

The Makerspace includes equipment for 3D printers, a green screen, digital design and editing software, and a podcast space; as well as an area for kitchen tools and materials for the culinary arts, lovingly referred to as the “Bakerspace.” With hopes to eventually build a greenhouse, the team also has plants currently growing in the Uncommons.

“In the Makerspace, our students can discover how interdisciplinary STEM is and gain the ability to be agents of creativity and change in the face of problems in front of them,” Ms. Chao Mignano said. ❤