Steam and Maker Education

Our experiences at Hewitt have encouraged our passion for mathematics and helped us develop a sense of purpose around sharing that passion with our peers. Through the Math Olympiad club, we hope to give all upper school students a space outside of their classes to develop positive attitudes about mathematics while expanding their analytical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.

Instead of relying on dry textbooks to teach confusing concepts, my freshman physics class showed me how effectively student-led, hands-on labs based in real-world scenarios could help break down complex principles. My experiences in ninth grade physics have given me the courage to pursue a subject that I initially thought would be overwhelmingly challenging, which feels heartening and empowering.   

When students teach their peers they take ownership of their knowledge and sharing new skills ceases to be a top-down exercise that must be led by the adult in the room. In these moments, the student sharing her wisdom deepens her own understanding and gains confidence in herself, while the student being taught gets the chance to hear a peer explain a new skill or concept, demystifying it and making it instantly more accessible. 

In seventh grade science, students immerse themselves in two valuable systems of inquiry with real-world applications: the scientific method and the engineering design process. Through hands-on and self-directed work — time spent solving, testing, building, and creating — students develop a strong grasp of how scientific inquiry and experimentation can inform and improve engineering.

In Hewitt’s Programming and Robotics course, students learn how to create computer animations, design for digital fabrication, and program electronic circuitry, all with code. Because this introductory course focuses on hands-on projects that are grounded in real-world contexts, students start learning by doing at their very first class meeting, quickly making connections between the projects they are working on in class and the systems and electronics they use on a daily basis.

The New York Times’ Spelling Bee puzzle provides opportunities for members of the Hewitt community to unpack mathematics and engage with quantitative reasoning, to collaborate across disciplines and roles, and to stay connected despite the geographical challenges brought on by social distancing.

In Problem Solving and Posing, a mathematics elective for Hewitt seniors, students explored how to bring conversations about math to a wider audience through Sidewalk Math, a movement designed to make math enjoyable, creative, tangible, and accessible. 

Hewitt Robotics Team 11442N created an inspiring video to shed light on the lack of women in STEM fields and to highlight how, through robotics, "students are able to get engineering experience...creating a space for a love of technology to grow." 

The Hewitt Innovation Lab is designed to be a space for students and teachers to explore meaningful ways of making — to make with a purpose. Research shows that many girls and women want to learn how to use technology skills to accomplish meaningful goals, such as pursuing artistic expression, solving a problem, or thinking differently about academic concepts. 

To learn about the animals that inhabit our oceans, second graders engaged in an interdisciplinary and multisensory project that invited them to explore marine life as readers, writers, artists, researchers, and public speakers. By directing their own learning at every stage of the project, these young scientists became deeply invested in work that was meaningful to them while developing confidence in their abilities to think critically and independently.