ACADEMICS
THE MPCS APPROACH TO LEARNING
BY DR. TIM WIENS, HEAD OF SCHOOL
T
he ongoing construction of the Murray Innovation Center addition to the high school is visible when driving past the campus. This new building will provide amazing space for students and teachers to learn together and to innovate. If you look anywhere in education today, the words innovate and innovation are prominently displayed. For some in education, innovation is a fashionable trend. For others,
INNOVATION ENSURES STUDENTS ARE PREPARED FOR JOBS IN A WORLD OF WORK WHERE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ARTS, AND MATHEMATICS (STEAM) ARE DOMINANT.
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WINGSPAN
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Summer 2021
At MPCS, we have taken a different approach to innovation and STEM/STEAM – and education as a whole. We do not do anything because it is today’s latest fad. We seek to employ that which is tried and true, along with new perspectives, as we examine life through the broad lens of a Christian liberal arts education. The liberal arts have always employed mathematics and science as integral components of an education that develops well-rounded students who will flourish in whatever world they engage in and in whatever age they exist. We see this as timeless education. As such, innovation is examined, taught, and pursued as the practice of finding solutions to the problems faced in the world and as a means of thinking and learning that will transform hearts, minds, institutions, and culture. If the point of innovation is to make better, we seek to think differently, to act differently, and to learn in such a manner as to transform – to make all of life better for the glory of God. We believe innovation rests on a deep understanding of the created order, acquired through a robust commitment to the liberal arts. This perspective on innovation, therefore, reaches further than just STEM into the arts, the humanities, world language, and into every area that is studied by our students and taught by our faculty. At MPCS, innovation is not simply something that happens by chance. We do not simply innovate or change for the sake of change. Tradition and history are important. The aforementioned “tried and true” have worked in education and in schools for thousands of years for a reason. We honor tradition and seek to continue past practices that prepare our students for a rapidly-changing world, but we do so while also honoring new and varied approaches to learning. Why don’t most of us drive an Edsel or Model T.? Because new and innovative
in Education
INNOVAT
