Los Angeles, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/07/2017 --Imagine a buzzing, exuberant classroom in which students are grouped together, discussing and focused on dancing raisins, greasy potato chips or a sandwich bag explosion. At Celerity, it exemplifies what the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) component of our Expanded Learning Program is about.
Celerity's Expanded Learning Program offers free after-school academic and social enrichment to our families. Each trimester involves a "Fun Friday" curriculum focused on a theme – we have taught Reader's Theater, Robotics, Coding, Tribal Drumming, Public Speaking, Junior Banking, College and Career Planning, and Chess. This trimester, Celerity's project-based, dynamic approach to STEM allows students to work collaboratively in a hands-on way to solve real-world problems. The Expanded Learning Program also helps reduce stress on many of our working parents to know that their students are safe and supervised daily until 6:00 pm.
The Fun Friday Science Club, a 10-week curriculum of STEM experiments, provides access and enrichment for our after-school TK-8 students. Each activity is designed to develop the necessary skills that so many careers need, and so many students are not effectively taught – proficiencies such as communication, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and data analysis. In November, our excited students are showcasing their discoveries to parents and the school community.
During the first week of the STEM curriculum, students master the scientific method and create science journals to record their findings. Each week, program leaders facilitate science labs that offer students hands-on opportunities to test their hypothesis and record data. At the end of the semester, students form groups to analyze their data, discuss the implications of their results, and prepare experiment presentations.
"We need more scientists, engineers and innovators and a Celerity STEM education provides the key for our students," said Nadia Shaiq, Interim CEO and Chief Academic Officer at Celerity Educational Group. "Building rockets, robots, and other contraptions helps our kids become creative thinkers and problem solvers, and motivates them to discover future careers. We aim to develop the whole child, and this combined with our other curriculums has allowed our students to develop as performers, as speakers, as communicators, as artists. Join us to witness the budding brilliance of Celerity's aspiring learners."
For more information about Celerity Educational Group's charter schools in the Los Angeles area, please visit www.celeritycalifornia.org.
