• Heart Valve Replacement Design

    Hydraulic Arm Challenge

    Environmental Field Study

    Diagnosis Dialogues

    Zoo Enclosure Design

    Pediatric Nebulizer Design

    The Quantified Self

    Tectonic Boundary Animation

    Heart Dissection

    Measuring Cellular Respiration

    Harvard Medical Sim Lab

    Anatomy Drawing Studio

  • Projects

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    7th grade

    Heart Valve Replacement Design

    This biomedical engineering challenge is the culmination of our cardiovascular unit. Students are assigned a patient profile that provides a name, age, the heart valve pathology they suffer from, the particular heart valve that is affected, and the diameter of that heart valve annulus (18mm - 35mm). Students are tasked with designing a heart valve replacement for their patient that accurately fits the annulus. They test their initial ideas by first building a large, crude prototype before fabricating a precise, scaled model. The project reflection asks, "Did you save your patient?"

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    7th grade

    Hydraulic Arm Challenge

    This design challenge is the culmination of our musculoskeletal unit. Students are tasked with designing and building a hydraulic machine that can pick up an empty soda can, lift it over a 1ft wall and place it upright on the other side. The mechanics of a hydraulic arm mimic how our muscles and bones work together to move our body-- students make connections between the mechanical elements of their machines and their own arms.

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    6th grade

    Environmental Field Study

    Students start the year by asking "How do I understand my place and impact in a larger system?" Throughout the year we get outside and explore our sense of place through several guided field investigations that strengthen observation, data collection, and data analysis skills. By Spring, students ask their own questions and design their own individual investigations as a capstone. They spend up to 16 self- guided class periods in the field investigating the interactions between biotic and abiotic factors in their local ecosystem.

  • Educational Philosophy

     

    Whether I am dissecting pig hearts with seventh grade students or developing curriculum with teams of teachers, I strive to understand each learner and reimagine what their school experience has the potential to be -- this is the core of my educational philosophy.

     

    I want all of my students to feel as empowered by the study of science and engineering as I do. No matter what paths they choose to pursue in the future, I hope their middle school science experience equips them with the tools to search for truth, find beauty, and shape their world. The goal of my curriculum is to teach students to have confidence in their ideas by rooting them in scientific research as well as give them a process for bringing their ideas from brain to paper to three dimensions. To reach those goals, I have to build trust with each student and create a safe environment that gives all students a voice -- no matter how quiet they may be.

     

    As a compassionate educator, I meet my students where they are and regularly reassess what support and challenge they need. With a focus on process, students build resilience and grit through a constant feedback and iteration cycle that normalizes failure and treats every mistake as an opportunity. With self-paced, project-based learning, I appreciate what students accomplish when they set their own goals and meet those expectations.

     

    My students have designed heart valve replacements based on patient profiles, developed plans for invasive species removal at our local park, investigated the ideal location for growing food on campus based on scientific data, and diagnosed patients in the simulation lab at Harvard Medical School. By creating and leading these interdisciplinary experiences, I have found that the most effective approach to reach all learners is applied learning. When students apply their knowledge and skills to solve real problems for an external audience, we (students and teachers) are all encouraged to be collaborative, resourceful and flexible thinkers. Students are in charge of their learning as their work connects to their individual lives.

     

    I strive to be intentional about the classroom culture that I create with all of my actions, big and small, and I am constantly rethinking my feedback and evaluation process to ensure that I am promoting equity and inclusion as the heart of my practice. I am grateful for all that I have learned and how much I have grown as an educator at Beaver Country Day School. I love middle school and I am dedicated to serving middle school students.

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