Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math are key facets of the Shorecrest curriculum. Occasionally taught as discrete subjects when appropriate, we believe that STEAM subjects are innately interconnected with one another, as well as with other disciplines.
At Shorecrest, the popular acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) intentionally includes the arts. Here, we call our programs STEAM, acknowledging the role the arts and creativity play in so many other aspects of learning.
Through coursework, projects and events, STEAM topics are integrated across the curriculum schoolwide, providing hands-on opportunities for students to apply their creativity and critical thinking to solving real-life problems large and small.
Examples of our STEAM Programs
STEAM Signature Program
The STEAM Signature Program is an academic pathway in grades 9-12 to pursue STEAM related coursework while investigating a specialized area of interest in Computer Science, Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Design, Visual Art or Medical Engineering. In addition to taking at least three courses within their specific area of study, students must participate in an Applied STEAM and Entrepreneurship seminar, in which they work on a culminating project under the direction of a STEAM faculty member. Successful completion of the coursework and culminating project and presentation earn students a special designation on their Shorecrest diploma.
Drop Everything and STEAM Week
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An entire week of fifth grade is dedicated to the hands-on study of STEAM subjects through Drop Everything and STEAM week. Foregoing their regular weekly schedule, the fifth grade teachers engage their students in science- and art-based challenges that mimic the structure and real-world work of STEAM professionals like designers, engineers, scientists, and coders.
Courses & Clubs
Computer Sciences & STEAM Coursework (Upper School)
In addition to Physics, Chemistry and Biology as core coursework, the Upper School course catalog includes robust electives in computer science and STEAM fields. Past courses include Engineering, Programming and Robotics, Intro to Programming: Python, Intro to Game Design, Computer Assisted Design, and AP Computer Science, among others. Please see the Upper School Course Catalog for the most current offerings.
VEX Robotics (Upper School)
Offered through coursework and through after-school clubs, students in Robotics are tasked with designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in various VEX challenges, competitions and tournaments throughout the year. VEX students and teams from Shorecrest have competed and earned top marks at local, national, and even international competitions, including VEX Worlds in 2024.
STEAM Club (Upper School)
STEAM Club was originally launched in 2014 by a group of female high school students with the support of faculty members as the Girl’s STEAM Club, where girls could talk and share with other girls with similar interests in science, technology, engineering, art and math and mentor a Middle School Girl’s STEAM Club with members from both Shorecrest and Academy Prep. The club also produces the podcast "Women in STEAM: Perspectives from the Field." More details below.
Math & Science (Middle School)
Shorecrest Middle Schoolers take courses in General Sciences and Methods of Science, respectively, as they move through the fifth and sixth grades. Seventh and eighth graders move into Natural Sciences (7th) and Marine Science (8th). Math options include Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Geometry, with honors offerings starting in sixth grade.
LEGO Robotics (Middle School)
Competitive Robotics is an elective course in which students work as a team to participate in three branches of FIRST LEGO League; Innovative Project, Robot Game, and Core Values. The Innovative Project challenges students to solve a real-world problem related to the annual competition theme. In the Robot Game, students use the engineering design process to build and program a robot to complete challenges on a 4’x8’ field. Finally, students practice the FIRST LEGO Core Values as they gain productive learning habits, confidence, and teamwork skills.
Middle School students also have opportunities to learn robotics through non-competitive options.
Digital Storytelling (Middle School)
This course focuses on the aspects of storytelling through a digital lens. Students will explore the features commonly found in digital narratives and how story creators utilize digital tools, platforms, and interfaces to add interactivity to their narratives. Both fiction and non-fiction narratives are covered as well as how stories are told through game creation. A few examples of the mediums used in this course include Book Creator, Scratch programming, and iMovie.
Entrepreneurial Design Institute (Middle School)
In this course students harness the power of an entrepreneurial mindset along with critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills to launch an original idea. Students have the freedom to investigate issues surrounding a personal interest. They harness the power of design thinking, idea generation, ideation, and action, to develop a unique solution to a real-world issue.
Special Projects & Events
Podcast - Women in STEAM: Perspectives from the Field
Launched in 2021, “Women in STEAM: Perspectives from the Field” is a student-created podcast through which female STEAM students explore cutting-edge innovations of the 21st century, by interviewing influential women who have invested their careers in STEAM. Past guests include international artist Fernanda Chieco, NASA Engineer Kim de Groh, Aerospace Systems Engineer A.D. Johnson, and former Shorecrest teacher turned NASA scientist, Selene Willis, among others.
The Shorecrest Women in STEAM podcast is made possible by a grant from the Intuitive Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Intuitive, maker of the Da Vinci and ION surgical robotic systems.
Underwater ROVs
Each year, Shorecrest eighth graders take part in the Innovative ROV/ROT Project, which has two main parts. First students ideate and prototype a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) or Remote Operated Technology (ROT) that would solve a real world problem. Next, students build actual ROVs and the motors to run them.
Using PVC pipe, small groups of students make structures just over 1-foot square, and then build attached, working motors and controllers. Student teams take turns running their ROV through timed underwater tasks, such as picking up or moving items left underwater to simulate ocean exploration and research. Their piloting skills are then shared with students in younger grades who are taught to maneuver the ROVs.
St. Pete STEAMfest at Shorecrest
Launched in 2016, Shorecrest proudly hosts St. Pete STEAMfest - a community-wide celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Geared toward children aged 3-years-old through eighth grade, St. Pete STEAMfest is a free, family-friendly community event that offers hands-on activities to encourage and inspire children to imagine, invent and learn. The event is entirely planned, staffed and run by Shorecrest faculty, staff and student volunteers; and is a means of bringing engaging, experiential learning to the greater community.
STEAMfest draws families from all over the Tampa Bay Area, as well as community partners from other educational organizations. Past exhibitors include Busch Gardens, the Dali Museum, the Florida Aquarium, Great Explorations, The James Museum, Imagine Museum, The Wonder Studio, and iD Tech Camps - to name a few.
Technology at Shorecrest
Shorecrest has been an Apple Distinguished School since 2016. The Apple Distinguished School designation is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence, and demonstrate a clear vision of exemplary learning environments.
Shorecrest is committed to:
- Ensuring equitable access for all students.
- Providing tech support and network services for all students.
- Empowering teachers to use technology for teaching, learning, and communicating through internal and external professional development opportunities.
- Utilizing technology tools to build community and foster collaborative learning within our classroom walls and beyond.
- Providing students with the technology skills necessary to succeed in a variety of learning environments.
- Educating students as digital citizens through the safe, ethical and responsible use of technology, information, and resources.
- Educating students and families about the personal and interpersonal impact of social media.
Developing emergent technology skills; learning to use technology as a tool and resource to enhance their learning.
Lower School faculty and students are instructed on the best practices of educational technology. Technology is integrated into the Lower School curriculum. Proficiency in many technology tools, coupled with twenty-first-century skills - collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity - are essential elements for students' future success in academics, the workplace, and lifelong learning. Shorecrest is committed to promoting the use of technology as a tool to shape and construct classrooms that encourage students to think and reflect on their learning.
Fifth - Eighth Grade 1:1 iPad Program
Since its implementation in 2013, Shorecrest’s 1:1 iPad Program has been the cornerstone of technology in the Middle School. Students have taken greater ownership of the learning process and have leveraged technology to take an active role in choosing and achieving their personal learning goals. All students in 5th-8th grades use a school-issued iPad.
Teachers and students have found amazing ways to use these tools across the curriculum!
- Inspiration Maps is a great way for students to synthesize learning beyond traditional concept maps. Space is unlimited and revisions are easy to make. Students include photos, shapes, and color with a purpose to organize and summarize what they have learned about arithmetic, metric measurement and the five themes of geography.
- The Book Creator app allows students to create reflective journals and eBooks in Social Studies, Science and English. Students can easily add text and images to projects, as well as draw and annotate on pages of each virtual book they create. Students can record their voices or import audio tracks to augment projects.
- In technology class, students use Notability to storyboard a personal narrative. Once storyboards are complete, students learn basic rules of photography. They use the iPad camera to capture images for their narrative and the app SnapSeed to edit them. Photos are uploaded to Adobe Spark Video to add text and voice to their personal story.
- Notability is the go-to app for paperless classwork assignments and some note-taking. Teachers begin the year by helping all students set up folders to organize their documents by subject. Students then learn how to supplement their work with pictures and sketches as well as audio recordings. The built-in backup feature ensures notes are not only backed up on the iPad but also accessible via Google Drive.
- In addition to note-taking and organization skills, students use apps that facilitate and enhance their participation in class discussion, and collaboration with peers, and to create unique representations of their learning. Some apps include Poll Everywhere, Padlet, Flipgrid and Explain Everything.
- Quizziz is an online quiz game students use to review concepts. Quizzes can be timed or untimed, competitive or not, and they provide teachers and students with immediate feedback.
- Students use Flashcards to learn vocabulary roots.
1:1 School-Issued Laptop Program
Shorecrest encourages students to use personal digital devices to help them take greater ownership of the learning process. Shorecrest launched a 1:1 school-issued MacBook laptop program in the Upper School in the 2022-2023 school year. The Class of 2026 was the first group of students to switch from the Upper School BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program to the school-issued laptop program. Each year a new grade level is added to the program.
Libraries & Makerspaces
Haskell Library (Alpha - Grade 4)
The Haskell Library and Technology Center is housed in Charger Commons on the first floor. Inside are picture books, juvenile fiction and nonfiction, and many chapter book series for Experiential and Lower School students. There is a story time area where Lower School students gather to be read to.
| Haskell Library Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-3pm |
Hess Library (Grades 5-12)
The Hess Library is on the second floor of Charger Commons. It houses a collection of fiction, non-fiction, and reference books for Middle and Upper School students. Additionally, the library has a robust digital collection of ebooks, audiobooks and electronic databases, to include JSTOR, ProQuest, Sora, Gale and Health Reference Center.
| Hess Library Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4pm |
When the School is closed, the libraries are also closed.
Library Links: |
Technology Center & Makerspace
Shorecrest was the first independent school in the Tampa Bay Area to open a school makerspace. The Makerspace on the second floor of Charger Commons is a flexible, student-centered learning environment that features high and low tech tools and materials that support project work, including prototyping and fabrication. The Technology Center on the first floor of Charger Commons hosts classes, clubs, camps and more with a variety of mediums such as Ozobots, Osmo kits, sewing machines, craft supplies, and much more. Students work on software skills, classroom projects, coding, design thinking, and have so much fun! These shared spaces allow students to collaborate with teachers from across the School and with one another.
