Holy Family Academy students get into STEM classes

Biomimcry, accelerometer, 3-D modeling and risk assessment are not part of every middle school student's vocabulary, unless, of course, you attend Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness.

Holy Family Catholic Academy devotes a two hour block of time each week for "hands-on/minds-on" STEM learning. In addition to the school's rigorous classroom curriculum, the students rotate through eight-week units designed to apply Science, Engineering, Technology and Math to authentic problems; thereby significantly increasing STEM instruction.

A few years ago, the book, "The Earth is Flat," stated "the education in American junior high schools, in particular, seems to be a black hole that is sapping the interest of young people, particularly young women, when it comes to the sciences."

However, this is not the case at Holy Family Catholic Academy.

"our innovative teachers have worked hard to teach STEM units that are relevant, and expose our students to concepts beyond the typical science textbook," said Principal, Kate O'Brien.

For example, when sixth-grade student, Shea Leonard was asked to describe biomimcry she did so by explaining the process of dissecting a chicken wing with her partner. They discovered that the muscles, tendons and joints used to move the wing mimic the movement of a human arm. "I learned that I need to add bioengineering to my list of possible careers," she said.

Likewise, students in the next classroom were busy creating apps for android devices. Using a program developed by MIT, the students were learning math from the inside of the game they were creating. They were engaged in mathematical thinking rather than memorizing formulas.

Teammates Annicka Esquivel and Gino Bottalla agree, "We are going to work with friends and develop more apps after this class ends."

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