Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) courses and activities are an important part of the Browne curriculum.

The Innovation Center, which has both low- and high-tech opportunities, is an exciting place at Browne Academy. Students can dream, build, invent, design, prototype, and so much more! Our students would tell you it is a place where you can make and accomplish goals, express your mind, use your imagination, put your thoughts into creation, grow, learn new skills, show someone how something works, be inventive… the possibilities are endless. We pride ourselves in exploring our curriculum in great depth and making connections in as many ways as we can. The Innovation Center allows for some of the most unique, creative, and innovative ways to do so. Innovation Center activities have included - but certainly are not limited to - exploring evaporation and crystallization; building instruments and conducting sound experiments; designing and building ships, bridges, and other structures; creating landform and erosion models; creating products to help our community; studying ancient artifacts; building DaVinci-inspired catapults, atomic models, solar water heater, rubber band model cars, and vermicomposting bins. It’s so much fun when a class steps foot into our Innovation Center.

Browne believes in exposing our children to innovative and inquiry-based learning experiences. We also understand that in order to prepare our children for the world, we need to expose them to global learning and allow them to interact with people from different countries. The children at Browne participate in Level Up Village (LUV). LUV delivers pioneering Global STEAM (STEM + Arts) enrichment courses that promote design thinking and one-to-one collaboration on real-world problems between students at more than 250 schools in the U.S. and over 40 Global Partner organizations in 20+ countries.

 

Our kindergarten students took part in the Global Sound Artist program and went on a hands-on journey through the science of sound. During this course, the students built their own guitar, spinning drum, and pan pipe as they established an understanding of vibration, pitch, and volume. They were partnered with the INAM Agua Prieta School in Sonora, Mexico. The students interacted with their Global Partners throughout the course via project collaboration and exchanged video messages using Level Up Village’s Global Collaboration Platform.

 

Our 3^rd grade students participated in the Global Inventors program where they worked with our 3D printer to engineer solutions to real-world issues. In this exciting course, they learned how to use Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to create and modify a series of designs. The final project was a 3D printed solar-powered light source. The students were paired with students from the International Pioneers Academy School in Amman, Jordan. They interacted with their Global Partners throughout the course via project collaboration and the exchange of video messages using Level Up Village’s Global Collaboration Platform.