Innovations lead the way at Darlington

School officials have been working on including more STEAM, adding an I Period for students and increasing events for prospective families.

Several innovations have been making a positive difference at Darlington Schools in recent years, including a stronger concentration on integrating STEAM into the school and the addition this year of an I Period.

Looking at the skills they were teaching students led Darlington officials to steadily change their approach, incorporating more STEAM concepts into the school.

The school recently was honored as the top STEAM high school in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia.

“About six years ago, we were just looking at technology and decided to take an integrated approach to teaching as part of all classes,” said Stefan Eady, assistant head of school for academic resources. “We are a one-to-one school, with all students having a device to work on, and (we) have been working for several years to grow our STEAM integration.”

Eady said school officials saw a need to examine the skills the students were being taught.

“We are teaching a new generation of learner and we know technology is a big part of that,” he said. “But technology is a tool; we had to focus on more experiential learning, more problem solving and critical thinking.”

This year, the school changed schedules, switching from an eightcore-class day to a fourcore-class day, which allowed students to work more closely with teachers. They also added an I Period, during which students are encouraged to explore a passion of theirs.

The I Period includes everything from knitting, wood carving, app design, coding, farming and performing music together. One group of students is even working to develop a golf course on campus.

The I Period is a boon to the drama department as well, which was found out during preparation for the school’s musical production, “Once on This Island.”

The cast and crew used their I Period to work on costumes for the show, according to theater director Shelley Daniel.

“We repurposed a great number of old costumes and fabrics used before for the peasant and gods costumes in the show,” she explained. “The show was a no-sew-show, which meant we used basic ways to assemble the costumes like tucking and cutting and tying.”

Owen Kinney, chairman of the school’s science department and coach for the robotics team, said STEAM integration has been making a big difference in the school and the way students work together.

“In a class like robotics, we have students working on design, others working on the coding, others who do the building,” he said. “It brings the people to the round table. In this type of environment, the doing is the important thing. The students are accountable to each other.”

In his class, Kinney said he challenges his students.

“I treat them more like I Darlington students rehearse songs for their production of “Once on This Island” at the Rome City Auditorium.

am the boss, expecting them to complete a project,” he said. “Instead of saying ‘Write me a paper,’ I ask them to create a project.”

Senior Ian Kinney said the integrated approach is helpful in the way it makes subjects, which may not normally be a favorite, more interesting and relevant.

“We did a design thinking project for English when we were reading ‘Frankenstein,’” he explained. “We were told to choose a character and think of them as a consumer. We thought about their problems and tried to think of a solution.”

Ian said his group chose the creature as the consumer. Because the creature was constantly becoming angry or scared and hurting people, the

group designed a device similar to a smartwatch that would monitor the creature’s heart rate. When it became elevated, the watch would ask the creature a list of checklist questions to calm him.

“It gave us a different way to look at the book and to really dig into the characters,” he said. “It made the project more fun and put it more into my realm of thinking.”

The school also has added events like STEAM

Day, which is geared toward showing families interested in sending children to Darlington what the school offers.

STEAM Day showcased what the robotics teams and technology students have accomplished so far this year. Displays included programs like Garage Band — which allows students to play instruments and create their own sound using an app — and Maker Stations where students could design games Kristina Wilder / RN-T.com

and computer-controlled tops. Other stations featured the school’s robotics team, DarBots.

“I feel like kids are so advanced now,” said Beth Wardlaw, the school’s technology integration specialist. “They are already doing so much at home on their own, so schools really have to get our act together and take advantage and utilize technology in the classroom.” Top photo by Jeremy Stewart / RN-T.com Some of the courts at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College during the Georgia State Junior Open on Saturday, July 16, 2016.

Bottom photo by Kristina Wilder / RN-T.com Nozomi Perry dances around the room during Early Learning Center.

a Kindermusik class at the South Rome