Middle School Launches Their First Innovation and Entrepreneurship Classes

After years of planning, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) is now offering a new curriculum to all middle school students.

“The purpose of these courses is to present students with a blend of entrepreneurship, engineering and computer science,” said John Chiodo, the Director of Innovation, Engineering and Computer Science. “These classes will introduce students to key engineering principles, and skills in problem-solving that will lend themselves to upper school offerings in the IEC.”

For the 2020-2021 school year, students in grades five through eight will complete Design, Modeling and Prototyping. This introductory course challenges students to solve authentic problems in traditional and virtual design, with design thinking infused into every lesson. Students begin the school year by designing an orthosis for children with cerebral palsy using household materials, and end with a series of 3D modeling and printing projects in therapeutic toy design.

Beginning in September 2021, the IEC will introduce App Invention for Entrepreneurs to students in grades seven and eight. In 2022, they will introduce Computer Science for Innovators and Makers for eighth-grade students.

These programs will be taught by Rae Johnson, a member of the Class of 2011 and former faculty in the Visual Arts Department.

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