Focus on innovation and design leads our students to think creatively when solving problems
With an increased focus on innovation and design, our upgraded curricula, new courses, and partnerships with industry leaders are helping students develop their skills and ideas to improve the world. Learn more about how EMS is demonstrating exemplary learning.
STUDENTS DESIGN NEW PACKAGING PROTOTYPES FOR THE CENTER FOR FOOD ACTION
Our students partnered with Englewood’s Center for Food Action (CFA) to give back to the Bergen County community and help local children who may be experiencing food insecurity.
CFA’s Weekend Snack Pack program provides food care packages filled with healthy, kid-friendly, and easy-to-prepare food items to help prevent young children from going hungry over the weekend and other times when school meal programs are unavailable. With the support of teachers and staff, students in first through eighth grades assembled 500 snack packs in the spring of 2023.
This year, we introduced a Snack Pack Design Challenge, part of a design studio unit within the STEAM curriculum. Our sixth-grade students collaborated with the CFA to innovate possible new designs and content for future snack packs. They identified ways to improve sustainability and reduce food waste while including healthy foods that peers would enjoy. Then, they created and refined prototypes of their ideas and refined them as they gathered more information, making further adjustments after participating in the snack pack assembly. At the completion of their projects, the students presented
their final prototypes to Lori Oliff, a representative from CFA. CFA says it will consider the students’ ideas for future updates to the snack pack.
“These moments are at the core of who we are and why our learning environments are so powerful,” says Head of School Marek Beck, Ph.D. “At EMS, we arrive each day believing that every one of our students is infinitely capable. When you couple that mindset with empowering our students to innovate for outcomes that improve the world, amazing things start to take place. Our partnership with the CFA continues to be a powerful experience for our students as they learn to lead with empathy and increase their awareness of how we all support the rich diversity that makes up our local communities.”
CAPSTONE8 PROJECTS TACKLE REAL-WORLD ISSUES
In the 2022–2023 academic year, we launched the Capstone8 program, an opportunity for our eighth-grade students to pursue a passion project with a positive social impact prior to their graduation. Students embarked on a wide array of projects, including building a robot jellyfish that can sweep plastics out of the oceans, creating fitness and nutrition classes for our seventh graders, and partnering with Teaneck Public Library to craft a public literacy campaign.
Many also worked with local organizations to identify and address problems in the community, including a lack of cleaning supplies for Bergen Volunteers, a trash-removal device in the Hudson, and ideas for expanding New Jersey transit accessibility.
“Students begin by reflecting on their values and strengths and then consider how their talents can be used to contribute positively to local and global communities. To do this effectively, students complete reflection exercises that prompt them to think creatively, strategically, and pragmatically. Then, they interview members of various constituencies, revising and refining their project plans along the way,” says Associate Head of Middle School Gerard Allen. “Their projects are a model for how schools can make a difference in their community and the larger world.”
At the end of the year, students presented their projects to our school community during a special graduation event.
HANDS-ON EXPLORATION IN DESIGN STUDIOS DEEPENS CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Our middle-school design studios take project-based learning further and ask students to design solutions to current problems, empowering them to become designers, entrepreneurs, makers, and inventors who will impact their communities and the world through their work and ideas. These classes
immerse students in one interdisciplinary studio at a time where they work on open-ended problems. During the design process, students are deepening their critical thinking skills, expressing their creativity, and engaging in a learning process built on hands-on exploration.
This year, our fifth graders focused on executive functioning and were challenged to create something that would help them stay organized and focused during the school year, while our sixth graders worked on building interactive design installations to study how the emergence of irrigation led to the development of civilizations. Seventh-grade students created interactive artifacts that examine and communicate the students’ cultural values, such as an Infinity Harp that combines music and creativity, and rotates so you can play it while sitting comfortably, and a soccer ball that plays Nigerian music while being used. Our eighth graders explored cells, heredity, biomechanics, and ethics to design and fabricate wearable devices that advance human evolution through cyborg bionics. Student prototypes included a bracelet with a computer chip that can be programmed to bring objects to the person wearing the bracelet and a suit that allows humans to safely breathe underwater.
AT EMS, WE ARRIVE EACH DAY BELIEVING THAT EVERY ONE OF OUR STUDENTS IS INFINITELY CAPABLE. WHEN YOU COUPLE THAT MINDSET WITH EMPOWERING OUR STUDENTS TO INNOVATE FOR OUTCOMES THAT IMPROVE THE WORLD, AMAZING THINGS START TO TAKE PLACE.
Head of School Marek Beck, Ph.D.
STUDENTS EXPLORE PASSION PROJECTS DURING PERSONALIZED LEARNING TIME
We have reimagined traditional study hall time and replaced it with personalized learning time (PLT), allowing agency for students to take on passion projects, accelerate in subject areas beyond our planned curriculum, and study topics of personal interest apart from topics and themes covered in the scope of their classes.
PLT projects can have a tremendous impact on the trajectories of our students. This spring, fifth graders Armen M. and Robbie P. expanded upon work they began in a design studio during their PLT. Inspired by the work of MIT Media Lab Professor Neri Oxman, which blends biology, materials science, digital fabrication, and computational design, the two students created a project they called “Halo,” a flexible wooden mask prototype that uses color-changing materials to track students as they work to accomplish their goals during class. (shown at the top of the page). Toward the end of the semester, Armen and Robbie were able to meet Oxman (via Zoom), who answered their questions and provided feedback and encouragement.
Other examples of PLT projects this year include prototyping a flying robot, building a drone, learning Rhino to laser cut and build a mini skate park, writing a reference book on birds of the Americas and starting a birding club, writing and filming an animated show using inanimate objects, developing an EMS Rubix Cube contest and teaching students about algorithms and strategy and connections to math and computer science, and producing a TV show.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS EMPOWER IDEAS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE
From Chilton House to Morrow House, the United Nations’ global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) play an important role in education at EMS as we equip students with the knowledge, skills, attributes, and values necessary to help address our interconnected global challenges in today’s world.
There are 17 SDGs agreed upon by all world leaders to build a greener, fairer, better world by 2030: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation, and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice, and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals. We all have a role in achieving them.
At EMS, we are integrating the SDGs into the curriculum, so our students can contribute to a better future for all. In January and February, Morrow House students engaged in developing interactive bulletin boards to teach the community about the SDGs. Each mixed-aged group was assigned one of the SDGs and challenged to use the design thinking process to create a board that would teach adults and students what they can do to achieve the goal. In addition to identifying ways that they can help change the world, they built their capacity to collaborate, communicate, give and accept feedback, design, iterate, and create!
There's No Better Time to Support Your Child's Education
Every time you donate to one of Elisabeth Morrow's dedicated funds, you help enrich the daily experiences of our community on campus. STEAM spaces are enhanced, library catalogs are expanded, scholarships are funded, and teachers are hired. Every day, you can see the impact your generous donations have on campus.
