Between Thanksgiving and winter break, students in the middle school embarked on DCD’s Mini-term curriculum, which is designed to allow students to dive into specific subjects in science and humanities in a deep and focused way. For this three-week period, the daily schedule changed to allow for longer class periods where more focused discussions, research, and project work took place.
In Science, Grade 6 students posed a question or hypothesis about a science related topic of their choosing and then devised their own experiments for testing, analyzing and presenting. Grade 7 students studied solar power and then designed and built models for their own solar homes. Utilizing their study of simple machines from their curriculum in the fall, Grade 8 students parlayed their knowledge into designing, constructing, and testing their own complex machines. These machine creations were required to complete a task independent of human intervention!
In Humanities, DCD’s History and English faculty collaborated to team teach a combined and impactful curriculum for each middle school grade. “I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzae served as the centerpiece for the 6th grade humanities theme of activism. Grade 7 students were introduced to the Civil Rights Movement through a survey of events and discussions. And leveraging what they learned from the previous year, Grade 8 students narrowed their focus on the Civil Rights Movement with a study of the Little Rock Nine and the desegregation of Central High School.
Just before winter break dismissal, mini-term culminated with a Science Expo where middle school students had an opportunity to showcase and share their project work with their parents and lower school students. The photo album attached captures a bit of the process and the final product!
