STEAM at Berkeley Carroll

Berkeley Carroll’s STEAM initiative is focused on offering students exciting opportunities to delve deeply into Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. But more importantly, STEAM is about pushing students and teachers to explore the intersections of these disciplines and how they can be used to solve real-world problems.

It doesn’t skimp on the science: students still learn the important foundational concepts of chemistry and physics. But rather than learning by lecture, or by teacher-designed lab, they’re learning in a way that connects the information to aspects of their lives they find meaningful, which is what brain research shows is optimal for deep understanding and long-term retention.

A STEAM approach also cultivates a multitude of skills, including collaboration, flexibility, creativity and innovation. And the “A” in STEAM isn’t incidental: from the design process students learn to generate ideas, prototype, expect failure and learn from that failure to create an even better idea.

When we look at the complexity of the global economy, global challenges like climate change, political instability and immigration, and the centrality of technology in modern life, what’s clear is that a traditional education doesn’t provide adequate preparation for success in the 21st century. All of our students -- the future scientists, yes, but also future literary editors, business people, nonprofit directors, educators, and arts administrators – will benefit from mastery of these skills.

The classrooms, science labs, and art studios throughout our campus inspire students to engage in the design inquiry process in all classes and our 2000-square-foot Beta Lab at Lincoln Place builds on the school’s substantive STEAM offerings – giving students more space to scale up projects, conduct long-term research, prototype and test inventions, and delve into robotics.