I know that I’m not the only teacher who encourages students to be problem solvers. When I ask other educators this same question, I always receive similar answers, regardless of the discipline taught. An English teacher responded, "I want my students to have agency.” "For me it means teaching students how to critically read and interpret sources and how to write thoughtfully,” said a history teacher. A science teacher said, "Students should have the tools and rules of engagement to be able to come to a resolution of a problem that they are faced with. In the event that they cannot successfully come up with a resolution, at that point, they should be able to know who their supports are to access in order to help them come to a resolution.” The next question is always, "Why do we want our students to be problem solvers?” We are preparing our students to be real-world problem solvers, and our role is to provide them with various experiences so that they are able to do so successfully.

 

The Upper School’s Integrated Studies program offers students a unique opportunity to build upon their problem-solving skills in preparation for real-world practice. They are able to see how and why what they are learning in class will be applicable to the real world. Students take Voice and Vision in ninth grade, where they attempt to answer the questions "who am I?” and "what matters to me?” In tenth grade they are posed with the question "what matters in my community?” while taking Culture in Context. In eleventh grade Engineering Design, students are grappling with "how can I help somebody?” This culminates in the senior project, where the question is "what impact can I make?” Studio Arts Teacher Belle Moldovan says that the ninth and twelfth grade Integrated Studies courses are bookends because a true problem solver must know who they are before they can make an impact on the world. She has taught several courses in this program and strongly believes that it authentically prepares students to be changemakers.

 

Upper School students are always eager to share their learning, especially about Integrated Studies. Zoi Sledge, Class of 2025, shared the following about Voice and Vision: "In Voice and Vision thus far, I have understood how important standing up for yourself can be. We talked about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s marches and what the people that marched went through to get their point across. They went through extreme measures. We started talking about the Parkland shooting in Florida. We have started working on something in our life that we think we care about... and I chose mental and physical health. Mental health because right now it's really big and so many people are struggling with that. Physical health because so many places aren't wheelchair accessible and don't have other options for people who are on crutches or have a wheelchair. Physical health is important to me because I broke my ankle twice in middle school and there was no elevator and no way to get to science or gym without going down to the basement. We are going to learn how to stand up for our specific matter and find our voice.” 

 

Kallie Kristian, Class of 2024, shared her experience: "A highlight of Culture in Context was when the class took a trip to downtown Pittsburgh to study local art. We experienced the art pieces, took pictures of them, did research, and brought it all together by making an informational podcast. My group studied The Cell Phone Disco, which I found to be a very interesting and engaging installation that creates art from the electromagnetic field of our cell phones.”

 

Enysah Roberts, Class of 2023, stated, "A highlight for me in Integrated Studies would be in Culture in Context. My group and I edited our visual podcast and we saw how all the different images and videos we captured came together to form the visual podcast that we had initially envisioned. We had a rocky start to this project, but help from teachers and collaboration within the group allowed us to finally see a common goal. My goal for this engineering and design class is for my group and I to bring to light a solution to the non-inclusive and inaccurate BMI formula and to clearly show the process of how we got to our solution.”