State Schools Superintendent Richard Woods visited Martin Technology Academy last week to award it the Georgia Department of Education STEM Certification.
According to a press release from Hall County Schools, the South Hall school boasts a series of innovative elementary school courses called Talent and Thinking (TNT) courses. Students are allowed to choose among the many courses (coding, robotics, gardening, problem solving, engineering, etc.) based upon their interest. Strong business and post-secondary partnerships, where students are challenged with authentic projects and become producers of digital products, round out the STEM program at Martin.
Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield, who attended the ceremony, praised the school’s accomplishment in an district-wide email: “Congratulations to the Martin faculty, students and community members on this incredible achievement in becoming one of only twenty-three (23) elementary schools across Georgia to achieve STEM certification.”
In Georgia, STEM education is defined as an integrated curriculum (as opposed to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics taught in isolation) that is driven by problem solving, discovery, exploratory project/problem-based learning, and student-centered development of ideas and solutions. According to the press release, the saturation of technology in most fields means that all students – not just those who plan to pursue a STEM profession – will require a solid foundation in STEM to be productive members of the workforce.
