A Top-Down STEMM Movement

By Edward Montalvo – Director, Educator Network

Earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced an exciting expansion of resources for STEMM education through the STEMM Opportunity Alliance—a national initiative designed to lead and coordinate cross-sector action across STEMM fields. Together, they’ll leverage a coalition of over 200 organizations and $2 billion to increase STEMM educational opportunities, expand equity, and increase access to our most vulnerable communities. 

So, what does this news mean for high schools?

According to Nikki Wallace, the science department chair at Crosstown High, an XQ school in Memphis, Tennessee, this announcement signifies a monumental shift towards inclusivity and enhanced resource allocation that directly benefits students who might otherwise lose out on STEMM opportunities due to systemic barriers.

Nikki and I recently spoke for XQ Live about how high school science classes can provide effective, meaningful examples of interdisciplinary and project-based learning (I took a similar approach as an English teacher at PSI High in Florida). We unpacked the diverse objectives outlined by the White House. Nikki also has advice for educators eager to bring interdisciplinary projects to their classrooms.

🏫 For starters, Nikki recommends community partnerships. A strong way to ensure an interdisciplinary project engages students is for them to experience it outside the classroom and see how their learning exists in the real world. In her STEMM ecosystem in Memphis, Nikki’s students work with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital to study cancer rates in their local community, sharing their insights with medical professionals and community members.

A project of this scope and rigor requires students to develop critical reading and writing skills to understand the biological and environmental content and the right data analysis to unpack their research. Students also have to comprehend standards in rhetoric and history and learn to apply skills like empathy and persuasive communication when sharing their learning across various audiences.

Nikki pointed to the XQ Learner Outcomes and Competencies, specifically Masters of All Fundamental Literacies, as an anchor for organizing learning. Masters of All Fundamental Literacies involves communicating and receiving ideas as well as mathematical and scientific thinking. It includes several XQ Competencies Nikki considers vital for successful projects, particularly interdisciplinary ones, and for delivering transferable skills that can support students in their post-secondary lives—especially if they venture into a STEMM-focused career. She focused on these competencies in particular:

💻 Computational Thinking–Nikki emphasized integrating computational thinking across disciplines, highlighting its critical role in science and applicability in broader educational contexts.

• For projects: In Nikki’s project with St. Jude’s, students investigated why cancer rates were more prevalent in particular communities as they unpacked more about their social determinants of health.
• In another project, students learned about finding patterns in nature (biomimicry) to develop new biotechnology to solve local environmental problems.

🧮 Mathematical Modeling—Math exists everywhere. We use equations to predict, identify, and evaluate how we interpret the real world and thus influence our decisions.

• For projects: Nikki said students can continuously reevaluate the efficacy and efficiency of their solutions with mathematical modeling, which we can also call design thinking.
• My former colleague at PSI High, Jeff Fredrickson, wrote about how classroom projects build on this concept and become healthy and engaging forms of competition between students.

🦠 Scientific Investigation—For Nikki, all projects center on improving Memphis. Small questions about local waterways, what’s in the dirt, and what’s in our food guide students to solve real-world problems and can lead to big impacts.

• For projects: Root a scientific investigation in inquiry-based learning by creating an intentional space for students to ask questions. Community partnerships elevate this competency by connecting students with outside experts who can share the questions they're asking and how they approach problem-solving in their communities.
• Nikki also highlighted that generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, Magic School, and Playlab, help students build and use AI for cognitively complex projects, emphasizing inquiry and scientific thinking. 

Bring this Learning to Your Students

Visit our XQ Competency Navigator site where we’ve made new updates, including teacher-developed learning activities from classrooms like Nikki’s and more in the XQ community. You can plug an activity into your existing curriculum to spark students’ interest and boost learning across academic, cognitive, and social-emotional dimensions. We invite you to try these first few activities—and let us know what you think!

Be sure to follow us on social @XQAmercia so you don’t miss any upcoming XQ Live features!

Learn More

📣 Join the Movement

Share your thoughts and experiences on STEMM projects in our digital community, the XQ Xchange. In this new Facebook group, you’ll discover diverse perspectives from educators nationwide and collaborate on ideas and inspiration.

XQ Stories & Updates:

🎥 Watch Nikki Wallace in action! See how to rethink high school with “The First Class,” our documentary about Crosstown High’s founding group of teachers and students. The school was created by people across Memphis who wanted a new approach to learning, and it comes with resources for educators to replicate some of the exciting examples of project-based learning seen in the film. 

🔬 Speaking of technology, this recent Op-Ed in The 74 Media is very relevant. Read There’s Already a Solution to the STEM Crisis: It’s in High Schools. Co-authored by XQ Senior Advisors Michele Cahill and Anne Mackinnon and Beyond100k’s Executive Director Talia Milgrom, discover how schools leverage joy and belonging to elevate STEM learning.

There’s another great article in The 74 about A School Without Walls, New York City’s first hybrid high school where students create engaging, individualized learning paths.

Share With Us:

Contribute stories and insights about high school transformation with us on social @XQAmerica using #RethinkHighSchool, and we will include them in a later edition of the Xtra.

📬 Or send us a message directly at xtra@xqinstitute.org

Additionally, forward this to colleagues who may find this content helpful.

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