Catholic Central School to Launch Innovative Middle School Electives
Catholic Central School (CCS) in Latham has announced that it will be implementing an innovative program of elective courses for its middle school students this coming fall. The school will offer 5th- through 8th-grade students courses that range from engineering and podcasting, to coding and design thinking. The engineering course will integrate the Siemens Hour of Engineering curriculum, launched by the company in December 2022. The activities require that students use their knowledge of math, science, and technology combined with specialized topics to create new objects and solve problems.
“When we began our strategic planning process six months ago, our intent was not just to navigate the creation of the only PreK-12th grade school in the Capital Region, but to ensure that our students acquire the life preparatory skills that will make them successful in an emerging workforce. The Hour of Engineering program has already proven in Siemens’ pilot schools that exposing students to engineering and design concepts gets them excited about learning, and also raises an entire school community.” stated Lily Spera, Co-Principal of CCS.
Every elective course aligns to the existing school curriculum and offers students the opportunity to apply context to their learning through additional, hands-on activities and problem-solving tasks. The overall electives program supports the use of podcasting for music creation using a cloud-based digital creation platform; and, the applications of coding to AI and sustainability.
“We are so proud to offer these opportunities to our students; it’s amazing to see our early learners using coding and robotics in their regular classes, and now to offer such state-of-the-art courses to our middle school students continues our standard of excellence. As a former history teacher, the application of technology to facilitate everyday instruction across the curriculum engages learners in subjects they used to think were boring - this is an exciting opportunity for our students.” stated Ritch Harrigan, CCS Co-Principal.
For more information contact: Lily Spera, Co-Principal.
