Engineering & Design Learning Program at Moses Brown School 2016-2017 MB’s ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LEARNING PROGRAM encourages students to design, prototype, and tinker, and to apply knowledge from across disciplines to develop solutions for real-world problems. This applied learning fosters creative thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills by:
LOWER SCHOOL ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS UNIT
Students use littleBits, an open-source kit of electronic pieces that snap together to construct functioning and flexible circuits.
• Capitalizing on students’ natural curiosity and fascination for hands-on, realworld learning • Making students flexible, adaptive, and creative thinkers • Developing leadership and collaboration skills through team-based projects • Generating resilient students who learn from setbacks and see failure as a necessary part of the learning process • Using the latest technologies and equipment to design, prototype, and produce solutions
SEVENTH GRADE WATER TRANSPORT CHALLENGE
Students design and build a watertight container using duct tape, cardboard, and a meter of rope to transport ten liters of water for one mile.
upper school’s engineering design
EXCEPTIONAL MATH AND SCIENCE COURSES SERVE HIGH STUDENT INTEREST In MB’s Class of 2017, almost 50% of the seniors enrolled in Advanced Placement Calculus BC or AB, and another 25% registered for non-AP Calculus. Another 30% of seniors pursued AP Statistics with many students enrolled in multiple mathematics or science courses. Seniors also select from one or more of five AP science courses:
…or opt to study these popular electives:
BIOLOGY CHEMISTRY COMPUTER SCIENCE PHYSICS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
GENETICS MARINE SCIENCE ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY GLOBAL & LOCAL ECOLOGY METEOROLOGY ASTRONOMY ORNITHOLOGY ENGINEERING DESIGN ROBOTICS & PROGRAMMING
EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE FINAL: RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINES
Students build Rube Goldberg machines — intentionally complex devices that accomplish a simple task such as watering a plant, popping a balloon, ringing a doorbell, or answering a cell phone.
Moses Brown, a Friends School, exists to inspire the inner promise of each student and instill the utmost care for learning, people, and place.
STEM @ Moses Brown MB’s ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LEARNING PROGRAM promotes new upper school course offerings: ENGINEERING DESIGN: This
team-taught elective introduces students to the engineering design process and the interconnected principles of physics through a series of design challenges. Design activities include building a working wind turbine.
MB’s ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LEARNING PROGRAM promotes computer programming and digital learning.
PROGRAMMING WITH THE ARDUINOTM: This
course introduces students to programming, electronic circuitry, and engineering design through hands-on experimentation with the Arduino™, an open-source electronics prototyping platform. Students will learn the Arduino™ programming language, which is based on C/C+ language. TINKER, TAILOR, MAKER: This
course focuses on tinkering activities involving Arduino™, puppetry, creating gadgets, electricity, magnetism, wearable technology, force, and motion, as well as repurposing toys and other materials. This class takes things apart, explores tools and materials, and blends art, science, and technology! NEW AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES: This
course focuses on the innovative aspects of computing and computational thinking by introducing students to the essential ideas of computer science through in-depth studies with creative problem solving, programming, analysis of large data sets, the Internet structure, and cyber security issues
summer program camp invention
lower school hour of code
HOUR OF CODE:
Students from all three divisions participate in an Hour of Code to demystify coding and to explore the basics of programming. NEW PROGRAMMING CURRICULUM FOR GRADES 2–5: Using 45 iPads recently added to
the lower school, students experience Creatorverse (invent and animate shapes), Daisy the Dino (a dragand-drop interface for sequencing, loops, and decision branches), and Cargo-Bot (challenge puzzles for programming fundamentals). 1:1 MOBILE LEARNING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL:
Each student learns Scratch, a visual programming environment, on a dedicated iPad to create stories, games, and animations.
MB’s ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LEARNING PROGRAM sponsors clubs, after-school activities, and co-curricular programs:
bring your own device program
AFTER-SCHOOL FLL (STEM) ROBOTICS PROGRAM for lower school students. MATH CLUB for
lower school students meets once a week before school.
MS MATH COUNTS PROGRAM for
NEW ROBOTICS/MAKER SPACE:
The Orenstein Computer Lab has been reconfigured as an active ‘maker space’ and robotics lab.
middle school students.
MIDDLE SCHOOL COURSE: DESIGN, PROGRAM, BUILD:
Students design, build,
UPPER SCHOOL BYOD (BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE) PROGRAM: Students bring their own devices
NEW SUMMER PROGRAM:
to school for use in the classroom. Throughout their academic studies students can expect to access the Internet and other online databases for research, read on-line texts, use productivity apps such as Microsoft Office® and Google, store and retrieve files from Google Drive, as well as access other resources readily available on the MB Digital Cloud.
SUMMER SCRATCH PROGRAMMING CAMP
Moses Brown School
and program innovative projects of their own creation. UPPER SCHOOL VEX ROBOTICS TEAM
complements a successful competitive middle school FLL Robotics club in its 6th year. Camp Invention enrolled 60 campers in its inaugural year and engaged students in tinkering, ‘hacking,’ designing, and building in this weeklong camp. engaged 15 students in a week of creativity, exploration, and fun learning to think and solve problems the way computer programmers do — with code!
250 Lloyd Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 401-831-7350 | mosesbrown.org
For the Honor of Truth