Grade 10 STEM Seminars: Building Skills, Knowledge, and Curiosity

But it’s not about the toothbrush holders so much as the process. These students are part of a new program launched this year, a series of STEM seminars created for Grade 10 students. Engineering is one of several options available for the once-a-week class; other sections focus on computer science, data science, and robotics. The optional pass-fail seminars are intended to introduce interested students to high-level science at an earlier stage, broadening their base of knowledge and potentially opening the door to more advanced work down the road. 

Science faculty member Yoshi Fujita did much of the planning and organizing in preparation for the launch of the new classes. Grade 10, he said, seemed like the perfect time to slip an additional option into the curriculum: “Ninth grade is crazy enough, with adjusting to high school and the demands on their time. But in tenth grade, some of our most interested students have time to stretch themselves and pursue extra topics.”

Fujita said the driving factor was the students’ desire to delve deeper into STEM subjects. That desire was strong enough to motivate 35 students—about a third of the Grade 10 class—to sign up. Science faculty member Laura Nicholson, who is also teaching engineering this semester, said the high turnout left them “pleasantly unsurprised,” adding, “We were thrilled—because science is awesome. We’re all really enthusiastic about the idea of getting the kids as much exposure as possible to as many STEM ideas as possible as early as possible.” 

Fujita said that the pass-fail nature of the class was important. “Several kids on their applications said that having the course be pass-fail might encourage them to take more risks with their learning,” he said. The format of the course supports that: “They’re doing open-ended projects that involve learning through doing. They’re not sitting there and listening to someone talk to them; that part is kept to a minimum. We show them how to do something, and we tell them, ‘Now you go do it.’” The seminars are small—class size is capped at six—allowing teachers to give students individualized, one-on-one attention.

Following the toothbrush-holder exercise, students come up with a project of their own to complete over the course of the semester. Nicholson said that she tells her students to “be on the lookout for a problem you think you could solve. Now that you’ve made the toothbrush holder, think to yourself, ‘Now I wish I had a widget to hold pencils or clip together stray cables.’ They need to pick something that is challenging enough, so that they can experience meaningful learning and growth.” 

In Michael Schlenker’s computer science seminar, students are learning the coding language Python as they build toward a final project. Schlenker explains that that project will involve a “Monte Carlo simulation,” a model that can predict a range of outcomes in any number of areas. It could be applied to the election, the stock market, or fantasy football, among other topics, says Schlenker, and students will have the opportunity to design a project around an area of interest.  

“The main focus,” said Schlenker, “is to learn how to program and then how to model.” The course concludes, he says, with students “getting up and presenting the project”—even if, as may happen, the project doesn’t work out exactly as planned. The ungraded nature of the course, says Schlenker, takes pressure off the students and allows the focus to be on the process, not the outcome.

That, too, is the goal of the engineering sections. On a recent Thursday morning, students in Nicholson’s class took some time to offer feedback on one another’s toothbrush-holder prototypes. Though the students had tangible objects to show for their efforts, it was clear that this was a first step, not a last step. 

The seminars may be tweaked a bit following this first pilot round. Next semester, said Nicholson, she hopes to structure the class to get the students to the printers by week two: “That will help get them excited and keep them excited, if we can get to the fun part sooner.”

It’s not unlike the engineering process itself, which is highly iterative and improves as skills and knowledge increase. “For me, in engineering, your first design never works,” said Fujita. “You need to keep trying.”

That experience, he said, can serve students in other areas as well: “To engage in long-term project-based learning will bring motivation and curiosity; that can give good knock-on effects for them in other courses, too.”