New Beginnings in Porcupine, SD

The STEM on the Road team is winding down this week in South Dakota. We had the opportunity to finish our week with the teams from the Pahin Sinte Owayawa Porcupine school. The school is located in Porcupine, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Every morning our drive has taken us through the ghost town Scenic and Badlands National Park and then we come to the beautiful K-8th grade school building to help co-design what problem based learning will look like at Porcupine.

We have had the opportunity to meet with educators who serve students in grade 5-8 and range from being paraprofessionals to the Lakota language instructors. And, they have rocked the house in their first design plan for what a problem based curriculum can look like for their students and their communities. Teams have designed work that will engage their students in proposing the construction of a cultural center, and investigating how a wolf traveled all the way to the reservation, and exploring the existence of the yeti! The planning stages are always exciting for us, but what will be really exciting will be the opportunities throughout the year to help make these ideas come to fruition for the educators and students alike. Presentations are tomorrow which will end our week of professional development, but really this is just the beginning of what this journey and transformation will look like! Cheers to every new beginning and redesigning what "school" can look like!