The Eliot Upper School in Boston’s North End kicked off Mass STEM week with week-long collaborative projects in science, technology, engineering and math.
Lieutenant Governor Polito as well as Vertex CEO Dr. Jeffery Leiden, DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley, Executive Director of Lynch Foundation, Katie Everett, Jill Shah, President of the Shah Foundation visited the Eliot School to launch the statewide learning initiative. The theme for this second annual STEM Week was “See Yourself in STEM.”
Eliot students in grades five through eight worked with i2learning, an organization that partners with schools and school districts to transform classrooms into STEM learning labs where students work in teams to solve real-world problems.
Each grade worked on collaborative, hands-on STEM projects during the week, concluding with a presentation of their work. The Eliot fifth graders envisioned the next level of Artificial Intelligence and programmed robots. Sixth graders designed and created a self-sustaining lunar colony. Seventh graders built and coded electronic circuits and learned to sew. Eighth grade students dissected brains and hearts, focusing on different surgical techniques including suturing and dissection.
Ethan Berman from I2 learning was inspired by Eliot grade 5 students as they explained how their robot companion solves a real-world problem using artificial intelligence. 
At the end of the week, the students presented their projects to Vertex scientists. Eliot Principal Traci Walker Griffith said about STEM week, “We are so proud of our teachers and students for all of their hard work and dedication to making these unique learning opportunities such a success.”
All photos courtesy of the Eliot School.
