Academics
Innovation at AIS
At Agnes Irwin, you'll find kindergarteners coding robots, fifth graders building 3D models of the Nile River, eighth graders designing video games to explain the principles of Reaganomics, and upper schoolers using design-thinking principles to construct product prototypes.
We encourage our girls to create, explore, and innovate. Collaborate. Think about problems from a new angle. We have two campus spaces dedicated to discovery, and partner with teachers to bring innovative teaching practices to life in our classrooms.
The STEAM Studio
Visitors to the Middle and Upper School can find a rotating display of notes and doodles scrawled on the dry-erase walls in the STEAM Studio, as students and faculty alike engage in design-thinking exercises around curriculum and class projects. The studio is outfitted with iPads, 3D printers, and many other tech tools. A green screen studio provides opportunity for video projects and the easy manipulation of photos.
The iWonder Lab
In the iWonder lab, Agnes Irwin’s youngest students can engage in making, tinkering, and engineering with circuitry kits, K’nex, codeable robots, electronics, and craft supplies. You'll find second graders using robots to design a parade route, PreK girls prototyping inventions that solve problems for nursery rhyme characters, and first graders taking part in "Genius Hour."
Partners & Collaborators
The iTeam partners with teachers to create new projects, or revamp existing projects, to better engage students in meaningful, authentic learning experiences. They offer brainstorming help, design projects, or provide resources and extra sets of hands to transform ideas into reality.
Professional Development
Throughout the year, the iTeam organizes and leads professional development opportunities for teachers to learn about new tech tools, project ideas, or teaching approaches. In addition to organizing workshops for several inservice days, the team also regularly hosts informal "pop-up PD" sessions during teacher lunch hours and other free periods.
Faculty Mentoring
The iTeam also oversees Agnes Irwin's Legacy Through Leadership program, an innovation-focused faculty fellowship funded by an E.E. Ford Foundation grant. The iTeam mentors our Innovation Fellows throughout the three-year program. (More on that below.)
Legacy Through Leadership Program
In 2017, thanks to a grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, Agnes Irwin launched the Legacy Through Leadership program: a three-year fellowship designed to empower faculty members to explore, create, and collaborate on powerful new learning opportunities for students. In workshops and individually, the "Innovation Fellows" delve into pedagogical theory, develop professional goals, and explore new technologies, while being mentored by the iTeam. After the first year, the Fellows become coaches to a new cohort of teachers.
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Explore More
“Innovation” encompasses much more than the use of technology. Project-based learning, design thinking and interdisciplinary instruction are all key aspects of an AIS education, along with other tools for teaching in student-centered and meaningful ways.
Julie Diana
Director of Libraries & Information Technology
“It’s about inquiry and wondering — and that doesn’t only happen in science class. We’re expanding the definition of being curious about things and digging
deep into them.”