Nationally-Recognized Program
Milwaukee Montessori School student Shireen Z. was one of only 12 students in the country to win President Obama's 2011 National STEM Video Game Challenge.
Read more about Shireen's game here.
Interested in playing the STEM-challenge-winning game yourself? Click here to try your hand at "Discover..."
Latest Happenings in the Tech Lair
Recently, MMS received a grant to purchase a 3D printer to be used in conjunction with MinecraftEdu (read more about how we use MinecraftEdu at MMS) and the World Peace Game, a hands-on political simulation that allows players to explore the connectedness of the global community. Starting with MinecraftEdu, students will design virtual game pieces to use while playing the World Peace Game. The students will then see these virtual designs come to life using our 3D printer to create actual, plastic game pieces.
The printer works by melting down plastic threadlike material and printing layer by layer until the 3D object has been fully formed. Right now, we are experimenting printing plastic objects like bracelets, toys, model forms and even working tools like nuts and bolts that physically screw together. In the future, we look forward to using the 3D printer so students can immerse themselves in industrial design, manufacturing real models designed using 3D modeling and animation software, building simple machines, custom lines of jewelry or household objects and even working parts to assemble their own robot.
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| Photographed are examples of pieces created using our 3D printer, including model buildings, plastic figurines, bracelets, and working tools like a nut and bolt, and a chain link. |
About Tech Use at MMS
Milwaukee Montessori School has invested in the infrastructure and materials to allow even our youngest students to harness the extraordinary benefits of academic technology. All MMS students from age three have access to multiple computers in their classrooms, and they use them daily to develop skills in reading, spelling, mathematics, and even foreign language study. Through our web-based learning accounts, students can learn and receive feedback from our teachers, even on days and months that school is closed.
Beginning at age six, all of our students use Tablet PCs with a screen stylus or electronic pen. Tablet computers are most commonly found on college campuses, and are especially favored by engineering schools. MMS is one of only a very few schools in the country to use tablets in elementary school.
Tablets not only contain notes and assignments, but are tools to create multimedia projects for every subject, including animation, videos, sounds, graphs, and images. The first benefit of integrating cutting-edge technology with time-tested Montessori methodology is that students become exceptionally skilled in areas that will help them thrive in high school. Yet beyond this, discerning reputable data from opinion, compiling and presenting compelling research, animating drawings and diagrams, creating video and audio to share ideas, and staying at the forefront of technology are skills that will give them a decisive edge in a competitive marketplace.
MMS students and parents sign an Acceptable Use Policy before each academic year commences, and we monitor and instruct students continually on remaining safe and vigilant employing ethical decisions and staying alert to viruses, adware, malware, and scams...
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