Richland School District looking for STEAM professional to help design curriculum

Imagine a group of students walking into their classroom one morning, only to find an outline of a body on the floor, and uniformed law enforcement officers where the teacher should be.

It's not a crime scene-- it's a lesson in problem solving. The students are provided all of the information about an actual crime that law enforcement has already solved. The students' assignment is to go through all the information, and decide the outcome. To do so, they'll learn about DNA, organize information, work through deductive reasoning, and write an essay.

It's that type of real-world experience that the Richland School District wants to bring to its new middle school.

"What are the student's parents doing at PPNL, and how can the subject matter that they're learning in middle school relate to a project that's there?" Principal Andre Hargunani is looking for parents or other professionals to join a core planning team to help formuate a curriculum to bring Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math lessons to live in the classroom.

"It's a lot like going on a field trip," Harganani says. "Because a field trip is sort of a one-off event, and then we go back to doing the work. Whereas here, that is the work. How do we bring what we're doing in the classroom into the community, and how do we bring  the community into the classroom."

If you're involved in a STEAM industry and would like to participate on the planning team, you can apply on the District's web site.