Curriculum

PCA’s STEM curriculum is based on research that has proven that when lessons are hands-on and project-based, the STEM subjects are more naturally integrated and the learning is more concrete and relevant. Our Lower School has adopted award-winning, nationally-recognized STEMscopes as a curriculum resource to enhance our overall STEM curriculum. STEMscopes, developed by Rice University’s Center for Digital Learning and Scholarship, offers our students and teachers quality instructional materials that drive hands-on learning in classrooms and engages student in inquiry-based practices. By learning through hands-on discovery, STEMscopes is helping our students develop reasoning skills that improve their 21^st century skills.

STEMscopes, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), is currently being piloted in all of PCA’s second and third grade classrooms with an anticipated expansion across our Lower School grades following the success of our pilots.

Hands-on, inquiry-based science courses combined with new computer science and robotics courses are areas of particular focus for PCA’s Middle School STEM curriculum. Significant investments in inquiry-based curriculum and lab equipment have been made across our Middle School’s life, physical, and earth science classrooms. PCA’s Middle School technology elective course offerings currently include Programming and Robotics. PCA’s Middle School science, math, and technology courses feed directly into PCA’s Upper School advanced-placement STEM course pathways.