- Folsom Cordova Unified School District
- District News
Igniting Young Minds: Middle schools challenge students with IB and STEM programs
When Shayla Nuttall enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme at Mitchell Middle School, she felt it was a perfect fit. “It was a great change for me,” says Shayla, now a junior at Cordova High. “It felt much more challenging and rigorous.”
She gives an example of a Spanish course at Mitchell, where they learned the language but also focused heavily on Spanish culture. “That was totally cool,” she says, adding as an international program, there is always a global perspective in IB work. But in Rancho Cordova, this perspective is intensified by the cultural diversity among her classmates: “It’s so interesting to walk around and see all cultures. And it will definitely help me go out to the workforce and work with people from different backgrounds.”
Shayla also feels her committed classmates add to the richness of the coursework. “What I find in IB is students are very engaged in their learning,” she says. “And you really learn something because you are with other students who want to learn. It’s great to continue on with them.”
The other middle school in Rancho Cordova — Mills — offers another intriguing academic option: a special STEM Academy (science, technology, engineering and math). “This program is asking kids to embrace all the subjects all at one time in an investigative and exploratory manner,” says Mark Arnez, an eighth grade math teacher and the math division lead for STEM. “And what we find is the smartest kids — the straight-A kids — struggle with this. ‘What do I do? Where are the instructions?’ We tell them, ‘There aren’t any.’”
He contrasts this to traditional teaching, where kids learn, “But they don’t learn to think or get excited about innovation.” Once they get used to this new approach, “They really come alive — from black and white to full color,” he says.
The STEM program also has an annual camping trip. Last year, 60 kids spent three days in Yosemite National Park. There were hours of activities, including teams charged with creating a Rube Goldberg project. “The goal of these contraptions was to release a ball at one end and pop a balloon at the other,” says Arnez. “They used electricity, Newton’s Laws, a chemical reaction. And they were jumping in the air, hugging each other, when it worked.
“You are never going to see them doing that in a traditional setting,” he says.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK:
Parents know the power that peer groups have on a young person’s education. Just ask Karma Nuttall, mother of 16-year-old Shayla.
“The IB program placed Shayla in a community with highly motivated students,” Nuttall says. “They really keep each other going.”
In fact, Nuttall feels that discussion-based learning with peers creates a level of inquiry that makes students successful in school, and bodes well for their future. “They become [intellectual] risk-takers and very open-minded,” she says. “These are the same traits they need as college students and just as people — mothers and fathers, employees and employers.”
She also appreciates the diversity of backgrounds in Rancho Cordova and the resulting wide range of perspectives in an IB classroom. “Shayla has always been more naturally agreeable, but my younger son is a child that likes to be right,” she says with a laugh. “The Mitchell IB program helped him learn to work with others and respect others’ viewpoints. Both my kids gained skills they need for the future.”