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Steam and Maker Education

Innovators, Inventors, Leaders

Research shows that girls have higher interest and persistence rates in STEAM fields when they are afforded ample opportunities to tinker and build. By introducing design challenges in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes starting in the lower school, we prepare our girls to embrace robotics with an eagerness to explore, a willingness to build upon failure, and an openness to constructive feedback. Our K-12 interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to STEAM ensures that Hewitt girls graduate well on their way to becoming the next generation of innovators, inventors, and leaders.

 

Hewitt students explore, experiment, and play with technology, computer programming, digital fabrication and maker tools, and robotics at every stage of their academic career.


HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR STEAM PROGRAM

  • Graphic design and digital art using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Programming in Scratch, Python, C++, JavaScript, and Processing
  • Digital fabrication such as laser cutting, etching, and CNC milling with wood and plastic
  • 3D printing and design with Tinkercad
  • Tinkering with gears and circuitry
  • Robotics with VEX IQ, VEX EDR, and Arduino
  • E-textile design with LilyPad
  • Creative and physical computing with Makey Makey and Micro:bit
  • Fabrication with sustainable materials such as mycelium and recycled plastic
  • Computer science classes that engage students in circuitry, software development, product design and fabrication, and building and programming robots.
A student wearing a jean jacket leans over a table holding a soldering iron

A middle schooler uses a soldering iron to construct a circuit with LED lights 

A student in profile holding a blue piece of paper with a yellow and green animal attached via lever

In the Innovation Lab, first graders create stories using levers to simulate the movements of animals, people, or modes of transportation

A student sits on the floor on her knees holding a controller and moving a VEX robot

Middle school students explore the world of VEX Robotics as they design and build robots with different materials and program them for various challenges

Two students sit smiling and looking at a small computer chip connected to green and yellow wires

In Introduction to Computer Programming, high schoolers code Python programs on Micro:bits to detect soil moisture levels in plants.

Two students sit on the floor looking up at the camera. Beside them is pink and yellow arcade game made of paper

Inspired by the documentary Caine’s Arcade, fourth graders use their knowledge of simple machines to engineer innovative arcade-style games for their lower school peers

Two students lean over a table covered in skate park models made of black, neon pink, and neon yellow paper

As they engineer and iterate their designs for mini skateboards and skate parks, third graders deepen their knowledge about about simple machines, force, motion, and friction

A student leans across a table holding a small white robot that is drawing lines on large paper on the table

Middle school students experiment with writing code and programming Finch robots to draw lines and shapes

A student holds a bright yellow glue gun and works on building a wooden box

Middle school students get hands-on experience with a variety of building tools and techniques in the Hewitt Innovation Lab

Four students stand around a table holding strings connected to red plastic cups

Through a variety of hands-on STEAM challenges, lower school students refine their problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, delegation, and leadership skills

A group of students crowds around a clear plastic bin filled with mycelium shavings that look like wood chips

Upper schoolers use mycelium and single use plastic containers to create lamp shade molds 

A student in a grey sweatshirt sits in a dark room next to a blue and white lamp shade with a pink base

Students turn their mycelium lampshades into functioning lamps by soldering circuits for programmable lights

A student in a blue sweatshirt glues pieces of wood together to make a box

A sixth grader constructs a wood box that will hold an acrylic sign of her own design

STEAM News