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LONG AND WINDING ROAD: After
studying sports medicine and athletic
training, Daniel Taylor worked as a science
teacher at Vision Quest, a “mobile wilderness program” in which adjudicated youth
moved between Pennsylvania and Florida
in horse-drawn wagons. Between 19982002, he worked for the Peace Corps in
Gabon, in equatorial Africa; it was there,
he says, that he developed a passion for
teaching. Back in the U.S., he obtained his
master’s degree in education, and
taught health and physical education at the Philadelphia-area
Carson Valley School, which serves
foster children and kids in state protective services.
MAKING TIME FOR STEM: Right now,
most of the STEM projects come about
during elective classes and after school,
he says. For example, art teacher Arin
Leard uses an interdisciplinary approach
to learning in her STEAM garden.
Technology teachers Lisa Gary and Dan
Gerdes teach Project Lead the Way, a
middle school pre-engineering class in
which students use 3D modeling to make
computer-assisted designs; kids can build
race cars by printing out designs and testing them. Other STEM projects include
the construction of Solar Suitcases for
energy-impoverished areas of the world;
the Engineering, Technology and
Computing Club; and Science Olympiad.
The school also holds an annual STEAM
Career Day and Innovation Faire.
STEM WITH MR. TAYLOR: “Forensics
is science and technology-based, like CSI,”
he says. “The kids learn skills such as how
to handle evidence, do fingerprinting and
recognize forgeries.” Game Creation with
Robots, he says, lets students program
robots and develop board games with
them. ■
CHALKBOARD ART: THINKSTOCK
KHALED