Innovation Lab

Innovation Lab at St. Paul Catholic School is offered as a specials class that meets twice a week. Students are taught to apply tech/info skills, processes, and digital citizenship to better equip, inform, and empower their learning. Students also experience STEM activities via problem-solving modules from Project Lead the Way and courses from code.org that together address topics in engineering, biomedical, and computer science (including robotics in the upper grades). SPCS students experience multiple devices by incorporating the use of Chromebooks, PC’s, and iPads as they discover, create, communicate, collaborate, synthesize, and stretch their thinking.

STREAM EDUCATES STUDENTS FOR THEIR FUTURE.
The idea of emphasizing the subject areas of STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math has been driven by the business community to prepare a more agile, educated workforce for our country's future. However, in recent years, it has been increasingly evident that our economy is truly driven by innovation and the creativity and communication nurtured through the "Arts" is an essential component to innovation and worthy of emphasis as well.  Rooted in our faith as Catholic schools, "Religion" is woven throughout all subjects and completes the picture for a holistic approach to education.  STREAM schools, therefore, are the necessary evolution of STEM Schools in Colorado, using an interdisciplinary approach to bridge subject areas.  It is important to note that that STREAM Education is not a new curriculum, but a philosophical framework for delivering excellence in Catholic education for 21st century learners!

STREAM EDUCATION MAKES LEARNING RELEVANT.
STREAM Education allows academic concepts to be coupled with increased real life application in all the disciplines.  Students become involved in hands-on projects where problem solving, collaboration, and the results of their efforts make lessons more relevant than a textbook alone.

STREAM EDUCATION EMPHASIZES INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS.
STREAM intentionally connects disciplines to drive instruction.  In the real world, content knowledge is interwoven, layered and sophisticated, not experienced in isolation.  STREAM Education promotes the coordination of topics around central themes, and encourages the exploration of concepts in relation to one another.  While disciplines are essential, STREAM asks where does my subject area blend with yours.  This framework promotes deeper understanding and the transference of knowledge outside specific disciplines.