33 POSITIVE COMPETITION At USchool, the curriculum and each student’s learning plan are college oriented and seek to build critical-thinking and creative problem-solving skills within a flexible learning experience. School is still competitive, but in a positive way. This can be seen in the way students celebrate each other’s victories. The two soccer teams that went to state finals celebrated our robotics team wins. As each senior was accepted into college, the students were excited for each other. Not everybody can be the greatest athlete, actor, or businessperson in the world. But at NSU University School, we are going to find something you are good at and celebrate it. o A LOWER SCHOOL LESSON Through Marine Advanced Techn- ology Education (MATE) challenges, Lower School students learn to creatively apply STEM skills to solve today’s global issues around marine ecology. In one activity, students establish a mock company and then create a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is designed to solve real-life underwater tasks and meet the needs of one or more clients. A 40+ page manual outlines design and building specs, competition rules, and a list of deliverables. This year, the task list for product demonstration included deploying a floating solar array, removing bifouling (decay) from machinery, retrieving—then replacing—a damaged buoy, retrieving a GO-BGC float, deploying an underwater camera, tenting—then inoculating— diseased coral, deploying a float bag to retrieve underwater debris, and reintroducing marine life to a given location. In addition, this year, students had to interpret and graph retrieved data. The team members assumed roles based on their strengths and interests, with titles like CEO, director of marketing, head of design and product development, head of math and analysis, and chief engineer. They prepared a parts list, budget, and marketing display board before “selling” a panel of judges on the features and performance of their ROV. o MICHELLE GARREN, Lower School Innovation Lab Instructor, NSU University School
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