Those who have their eye on workforce trends and workplace success, are increasingly drawn to what’s new, to what trainings and certifications are in demand, and to what skills commerce and industry are setting a premium on.  They’re also drawn to the emergence of new jobs, jobs in machine learning, in data science, and in finance.  Content, however, is just a part of the picture. Having strong content knowledge is only part of what makes one successful. Workplace success also depends increasingly on social emotional learning, on the skills the candidate has in thinking creatively, clearly and critically, in collaborating and communicating with others, and in being positive and optimistic and being able to persevere at a problem. These latter skills are, for many of our students, much harder to master than content knowledge. Many of them are skilled at math and science, are adept at 3D design, and can even design and program a robot. But when it comes to negotiating with a peer or an adult, with recognizing social cues, or with collaborating effectively on a team, they find that much more difficult.

At STEM³ Academy, we want our students to not only develop academic rigor and have strong content knowledge, but be emotionally regulated and socially adept too. Developing such skills requires constant practice, which is why we embed the learning of such social emotional skills into the curriculum. Each class has a deliberate focus on projects, on applied learning. Projects are usually collaborative, and require not only that students be able to communicate, but that they be creative, be problem solvers, and be optimistic about the outcome. The goal is that students learn by doing, they learn not only the content around which the project is developed, but also learn to work together, to respect each other, and to keep their own emotions in check. In this way we can have our cake and eat it too. Students will have rich content knowledge and develop social emotional well being, both of which are critical to their present and future success.