Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM)
STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics.
Many jobs in the future will require a background in math and science and many of those jobs don't even exist yet. The STEAM focus at Jefferson gives our students the edge they need to be successful members of society. All students receive instruction in science based on the Next Generation Science Standards, instruction in art by real artists from the community and the opportunity to engineer things such as shade structures, water filters and airplanes.
The design thinking cycle, Plan-Create-Improve, is cross disciplinary and is used in engineering as well as language arts. Technology is available to every student and is used thoughtfully to support learning and creativity in the classroom.
All Jefferson students participate in Computer Science lessons and even our TK students learn how to program and code.
STEAM experiences are extended through clubs and participation in STEAM community events around the San Diego Area.
https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/steam
Engineering
At Jefferson, two of our engineering programs are Project Lead the Way and Engineering is Elementary. Students get hands on experience thinking, planning and creating to solve real world problems connected to Next Generation Science Standards.
All students at Jefferson have engineering built into the IB planners, which means every student from TK-5 get engineering. It's not an afterschool club for a few kids, but rather part of a comprehensive curriculum we off to EVERY student.
In kindergarten, students build structures that connect to fairy tales such as the 3 little pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk. 1st grade students create a sun tracker to track the position of the sun from morning til afternoon and then observe and predict patterns of movement. 4th grade students learn about the transfer of energy as they design a car to protect an egg in the event of a crash and 5th graders design a water filter as they learn about water as a resource, its equity and access.