Stratford embraces Engineers Week

Students and educators at Stratford School are celebrating engineers and the many contributions they make to society during DiscoverE’s Engineers Week Feb.19 to 25.
The school’s 23 locations, including one in northwest Morgan Hill, and nearly 6,000 students will celebrate by spending nearly 20,000 hours on engineering coursework and projects during the week.
“As engineering, science, healthcare and technology jobs increase significantly in the coming decades, it’s vital that we develop creative problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills in our students,” said Monisha Gupta, senior director of Curriculum and Instruction at Stratford. “We know that balancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics with visual/performing arts and social sciences produces outstanding students who are able to succeed and thrive in a changing world.”
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor, 65 percent of today’s grade school students will eventually hold jobs that have yet to be invented. Collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity skills will be essential skills for these new jobs.
“Stratford’s proven STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curriculum introduces critical thinking, real-life problem solving, and innovation to students beginning in preschool through eighth grade,” Gupta added. “This encourages our students to begin asking the right questions and identifying and analyzing possible solutions, in addition to building a base of fundamental knowledge in core subjects.”
Stratford teaches engineering in its STEAM curriculum throughout the entire year. Examples of student classroom projects include creating roadways and control systems that alleviate traffic jams, constructing blood vessels and heart lung models, designing artificial limbs and constructing cities of the future that use less energy and produce less waste.
This year, three Stratford teams won numerous awards in the 2017 Future City regional competition sponsored by DiscoverE. One of the three award-winning Stratford teams has been invited to present their Future City concept to leaders of the City of Oakland on March 17.
For more information about Engineers Week, visit discovere.org.