Battle Creek STEM Innovation Center Brochure - 2020

BATTLE CREEK STEM INNOVATION CENTER: 6 TH - 8 TH GRADE
Empowering Students to
Transform The World

At BC STEM
Innovation Center,
Students Think
Differently
The Battle Creek STEM Innovation
Center (BC STEM, for short) is a new
kind of middle school. At BC STEM, we
see our students as innovators.
We empower every innovator to ask questions
and explore possibilities. Students research,
collaborate, and learn new ways of thinking.
Through our integrated curriculum, students
experience every school subject through the
lens of creative exploration. Our innovators
develop critical thinking skills to help them
create real solutions to the problems that matter
to our students and to our community.
WHAT IS STEM?
STEM — which stands for science,
technology, engineering and math — is
our nation’s fastest-growing career field.
Here at BCPS, we want to ensure that
our students are well prepared for higher
education and careers in these industries.
Using an integrated STEM program,
our students learn in a whole new way.
Hands-on projects help them examine
questions and problems through an
engineering and technology lens in order
to create innovative ideas and solutions.

THE
INNOVATOR
EXPERIENCE
BC STEM students
experience STEM
throughout the day,
not just in science or
math class.
The STEM model encourages
students to constantly draw
from prior experiences to
apply that knowledge in new,
innovative ways. BC STEM
students create — they take
apart and build motors and
machines, they code and
create games and apps, and
explore the world around
them through innovation.
STEM is not a special
class or club; it is the key
aspect of student learning
every day.
Our innovators learn traditional middle
school subjects like social sciences and
English in the context of STEM projects,
to encourage innovation in every
subject. These projects allow students to:
• Build reflective inquiry and
problem solving skills.
• Use innovation and creative
thinking to envision, design and
test solutions.
• Gain hands-on experience through
activities like designing bridges,
building communication devices and
programming LEGO taskbots.
• Learn everything from
programming to physical
computing to
HTML/CSS as they build their
own websites, devices, and so
much more.
• Develop their understanding of
engineering and design, as they
take apart objects to learn how they
function and begin to build their
own models.

OUTDOOR
EDUCATION
FOR SIXTH
GRADE
STUDENTS
BC STEM sixth grade
students will enjoy
weekly visits to our
Outdoor Education
Center to experience
hands-on science
activities, solve
problems in teams,
encounter wildlife
and learn key skills
in outdoor recreation
which will be useful in
all aspects of life.
Students will:
• Learn teamwork,
collaboration, risk taking,
decision-making and
conflict resolution through
group activities like canoeing,
creating remotely-operated
vehicles and working together
to navigate the outdoors using
maps, compasses and radios.
• Build important outdoor
skills like fire building, shelterbuilding
and plant and
animal identification.
• Conduct field research
data/sample collection
through activities like bird
counting and observation and
a long-term pond study.
• Experience unique and
challenging physical
education activities like
a high ropes course and
tower climb.

STATE-OF-THE-ART
FACILITIES
BC STEM’s advanced facilities offer our innovators excellence,
adaptability, and growth to encourage student-led inquiry
throughout the day — inside and outside the classroom.
Our classrooms include digital
collaborative whiteboards
called Jamboards which
make it easy for students to
collaborate and share ideas,
and create and innovate
without boundaries.
Our laboratories are fullyequipped
with everything our
students need to explore and
discover, including compound
microscopes, Chemistry start-up
chemicals, a class set of field/
stream waders, and much more.
BC STEM is a one-to-one school, meaning each
innovator is issued a Google Chromebook
computer to take home.
This initiative extends opportunities for them to learn
about technology in a supervised and controlled
environment and to practice appropriate digital
citizenship skills, opening up a world of learning
everywhere they go.

“WHAT STUDENTS
ARE SAYING:
BC STEM helps me understand things that will help me in life and
use knowledge to help in the future and support our community.
BC STEM always teaches us
above and beyond.
It is always a challenge and my
teachers help me understand
what I don’t know.
If the world were in trouble, our BC
STEM team would have the smarts to
overcome our problems — and we
would all work together to do it.
At my old school(s) there are things I am doing now that I’d never dream of doing.
I am an
innovator
meaning I
help solve real
world problems.
WHAT FAMILIES
ARE SAYING:
My grandson is thriving, excited and happy to go to school.
I love the technical and computer-based aspects of their learning experience!
I have two sons attending and they absolutely love it! The staff is amazing
and welcoming! The classes are a great learning atmosphere.
My boys are able to experience new things and they have
learned a lot in a short period of time. I am impressed and look forward to
next year already!
Staff is very involved
with students and families. My daughter had a
rough year last year but she loves her school,
teachers and classmates this year. I’m extremely
impressed and would definitely recommend.

COME JOIN US!
All students in the Battle Creek area are
encouraged to apply. Learn more about how to
apply at battlecreekpublicschools.org/BCSTEM
Battle Creek STEM Innovation Center
100 West Van Buren Street
Battle Creek, MI 49017
269. 213.3513
Facebook.com/steminnovationcenter