STEM at Evoline C. West Elementary
The First South Fulton County State STEM Certified Elementary School
ECW STEM Vision & Mission
Vision
To provide an authentic and collaborative experience for students to become global impactful citizens. Through interdisciplinary instruction students will utilize an Engineering Design Model to create solutions for complex real-world problems that will impact their lives and our society.
Mission
To edify and promote self-efficacy while fostering the social and emotional development of student's unique abilities, talents, and skills. Through innovative instructional strategies in an enriched dynamic environment, we are producing lifelong learners to academic excellence.
Our Journey
In 2016 the School Governance Council, comprised of community members, teachers, parents and the principal, created the goal of becoming a STEM certified school in the school’s original strategic plan. The community felt that having this certification would ensure a rigorous curriculum that exposed this rural community to STEM experiences and STEM careers. The community knew the importance of a strong neighborhood school and thought STEM certification would help E.C. West distinguish itself as a leading school in Fulton County and across the state.
The foundation of the STEM program at Evoline C. West elementary school is Project Based Learning, which is teacher and student created. These lessons coincide with current units of study for science, math, and social studies in grades K-5. Teachers and students use the Engineering Design Model in each PBL. We are most proud that each PBL unit is composed of a social action component where students are pushed to think critically to determine how their project can make a difference and create real change.
Our MIST Team (Media, Instructional Technology, STEM, Teacher) is a unique framework that we implemented to grow our students in STEM. Through this program, we give students more hands-on time to work on their STEM projects and more resources for STEM instruction. We use the Media Center for student conducted research. The Instructional Technology class is where students use digital tools to communicate learning in the project presentations to share mastery of content and enhance the demonstration of knowledge. In the STEM Lab, students conduct labs, engineer and design solutions to problems, and grow in science content knowledge. These three areas, along with classroom teachers, work collaboratively to make strong connections for students and bring cohesiveness to content for learners.
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In 2018, we earned our STEM certification.
ECW STEM Curriculum
Our goal at ECW is for our students to engage in relevant STEM projects that create real change while demonstrating mastery in curriculum and content standards that will make a difference in their community. Our curriculum is driven by current units of study that support student learning in real-world problem solving. By continually exposing our students to various STEM careers, the implementation of a social action component is composed to utilize critical thinking that will provide high quality educational opportunities.
The ECW MIST Team
E. C. West Elementary has established the MIST Team which includes the Media Specialist, Instructional Technology Teacher, STEM Teacher and General Ed Teachers that serve as a representative of each grade level. This team strives to effectively provide experiences that exemplify real life challenges to encourage students critical thinking through Project Based Learning. The MIST teams is also apart of the ECW STEM Advisory Council.
Stacey Thompson
Media Center Specialist
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Datoria Jones
Instructional Technology Teacher
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Valarie McMahon
STEM Teacher
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STEM Ambassadors
General Ed Teachers
