The New M in S.T.E.A.M. – Maker at The Willows

S.T.E.M., the term coined to abbreviate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, has become a staple in early education, with curricula evolving to recognize the importance of knowledge that intersects with multiple subject areas. Moreover, many have begun to acknowledge S.T.E.A.M., with art included to emphasize the need for creative expression and inquiry, in conjunction with more technical skills. Yet The Willows takes this one step further, suggesting that maker skills should also be considered in this educational intersection, thus creating S.T.E.A.M². This union of disciplines, coupled with The Willows’ dedication to experiential learning, ensures that we provide students with a nurturing environment where they can express creativity through a variety of educational and engaging hands-on experiences.

Before discussing our program in a bit more detail, it’s essential to outline what we mean when we discuss “maker” skills and activities. There’s a short video from Adam Savage, former host of MythBusters and prominent maker himself, that demonstrates the approach The Willows uses in our maker program.

Being able to “make something from nothing using your point of view” and “see a need in the world, have a desire to realize something, and make it exist where it did not exist” is the mentality we not only encourage, but instill within our students. A maker depends on creativity and ingenuity to produce their unique vision, in whatever form they see fit. That’s why our program not only focuses on the challenges that inevitably arise when physically constructing an object, but also the mental and emotional hurdles that we must clear when problem-solving and brainstorming. Great learning is open-ended, dynamic, authentic, and interconnected, each of which are at the core of making. The skills that students learn through maker, both technical and investigative, apply not only to their acquisition of other subject areas, but also to their future endeavors and goals.

On top of the skills students acquire while making, they can also practice crafting and building with the wide variety of tools we offer. Using LEGO robotics and Bee-Bots, students can make their own bot and practice computer programming to make their bot perform a specific task. Additionally, maker instructors have often planned activities with 3D printers, allowing students to digitally design, and then produce their ideas into tangible, fully realized projects! Most importantly though, maker projects are not determined by the kind of material or quality of tool used, but by the idea or observation itself. With all this said, making takes action, and what better way to share our maker program than with examples of projects from this school year!

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Cooper Ballantine (pictured in image 6), a 4th Grade and maker teacher can offer some context to the photo gallery above. Discussing images 1-5, he shares “Here students explore skills with motion, force, and gravity.  Based on the theories of Piaget, building and exploring with ramps and pathways offers students a constructivist approach to physical science. Ramps and pathways deeply engage children in reasoning about physical objects, combining structural engineering with design.” Images 6-9 show our students, building, programming, and experimenting with a variety of robotics tools. Middle School students have had the opportunity to work with Lego Spike robotics kits, wich allow them to fully create a bot from the ground up, and program it using its dedicated software. These two projects not only teach students the building blocks for future maker creations, but are also intrinsically tied to creativity and problem solving.

There’s a saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” Making a positive impact on students is, and will always be The Willows’ goal, but after they depart our school, it is up to the student to determine what impact they will have on the world. The maker program not only teaches students to be creative and think outside the box but also teaches them grit and perseverance, two qualities they will absolutely need to succeed. Solutions to problems are often far more complex than they may initially seem, however, it is our belief that the ingenuity and resolve that students learn in maker will provide them with the social-emotional tools to plan, design, and execute their ideas into actualized resolutions.

Emotions Matter: Social-Emotional Learning & The RULER Approach at The Willows

Preparing students for the future remains the principal purpose of a child’s school career, even as curricula and educational practices evolve. Teachers and staff at The Willows provide students with the necessary knowledge and tools to succeed, focusing on the humanities (language arts, social studies) and S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) to create a well-balanced educational program. However, The Willows sets itself apart from many other schools due to our commitment to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), aimed at developing each child’s emotional intelligence and well-being. In conjunction with The Willows core curriculum, SEL serves to elicit engaging learning experiences and transform them into valuable and pragmatic life skills. We believe emotions matter and are vital to effective learning, academic growth, development, and maturation.

Our commitment to SEL is further enhanced by our adoption, 8 years ago, of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence RULER approach, developed by its Director, Marc Brackett. RULER is an acronym, representing the five skills of emotional intelligence. They are as follows:

Recognizing emotions in oneself and others

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions

Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary

Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context

Regulating emotions with helpful strategies

The five skills of the RULER framework are not just exclusive to developing emotional intelligence in children, but in adults as well. Willows faculty and staff have participated in numerous RULER trainings & workshops, to transform the research-based curriculum into tangible learning activities. These give students the opportunity to consider and reflect upon their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, in creative and interactive ways. The aforementioned workshops also emphasize the importance of regulating emotions for faculty and staff. When adults are able to explain, and most importantly, model healthy emotional practices, they are able to build stronger connections with students and create a more engaging classroom experience.  

With all this said, you may still be wondering how the adoption of SEL and RULER benefit in the short term, especially in relation to academic activities. Studies focusing on the impact of the RULER curriculum have shown that students tend to build stronger bonds with their classmates and teachers, engage more and perform better in their classes, and create healthier work habits. The main intention of RULER is to provide students with effective strategies to help regulate their emotions, however, its effect ends up being twofold, as students that emotionally self-regulate, are able to spend more time and attention on their academics.

While each skill of the RULER approach holds value in regulating and managing one’s emotions, being able to accurately label emotions with a nuanced vocabulary is especially crucial to each of the other four skills. One of the main RULER strategies Willows educators use is the Feeling Words curriculum, a diverse set of vocabulary that gives students the ability to determine the specific emotion they are feeling at a given moment. An example of the Feeling Words in action is the 2021-22 seventh-grade art classes creation of Abstract Feeling Words, a set of art pieces in which students observed how a single element of art can be used to convey an emotion. They extended this idea by utilizing shape and color to represent a feeling word from the RULER curriculum. Each constructed geometric and organic shapes using tissue paper and collaged them strategically to create expressive, abstract compositions. Finally, to share the intention behind their piece, each student wrote an artist’s statement, explaining their choice of color, shape, and composition.

Our focus on SEL & the RULER Approach is just one example of many that demonstrates The Willows’ approach to developing the whole child, preparing them to become adults who value empathy, make sound decisions, and practice ethical behavior. Considering our demanding progressive curriculum rooted in engaging learning experiences, and all that comes with maturing and growing up, we believe that emotions matter, and being able to recognize, express, and regulate one’s emotions is not only essential for social-emotional development, but also for academics too. It is clear how SEL & RULER integrate with The Willows, seamlessly supporting our mission to foster capable and confident individuals who demonstrate character, engagement, and a joyful passion for creative inquiry across a lifetime.