Technological Literacy and STEM Home

STEM courses at the Franklin Avenue Middle School have been written to incorporate most recent conceptual shifts in both the Technological literacy standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. STEM courses integrate engineering design while providing students with interdisciplinary learning experiences in science and math. All units of study in STEM courses at the Franklin Avenue Middle School are written to incorporate Project Based Learning, fostering the integration of skills such as:

Problem Solving
Critical Thinking
Collaboration
Communication

The curriculum is based on Standards for Technological Literacy (STL): Content for the Study of Technology, which was developed as part of a study conducted by the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. STEM instruction is additionally integrated in the elementary grades as a part of science curriculum and instruction.

The New Jersey Technological Literacy Core Curriculum Content Standards were developed to guarantee all students have the skills necessary to be successful in a technological world. Technology skills are best taught through integration within all other content areas rather than merely being isolated to a specific course of study. With this in mind, the state has embedded required technological skills within all other content area standards.

Franklin Lakes has developed sequential benchmarks based on New Jersey and the federal guidelines for technological literacy. This provides students with a sequence of age-appropriate skills in each grade level that are continuously built upon. The scope and sequence is cumulative: as a skill is learned at a grade level, students continue to apply those skills at upper grade levels, and middle school students are assessed on their achievement of these benchmarks.

Franklin Lakes has designed a correlation guide between New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standard for Technological Literacy and the other content area standards. This document will make it easier for teachers to understand where within their curriculum they can integrate the technological skills all students need to succeed.
Teachers in the Franklin Lakes Schools are skilled at integrating technology in their daily instruction. All classrooms have access to computers and the Internet. Students across the district benefit from a wide variety of up-to-date tools and resources such as computer stations and laptops, LCD projectors, ELMO document cameras, Smart Boards, podcasting equipment, digital cameras and video equipment, United Streaming, online textbooks, the Macintosh i-Suite, and a multitude of other programs and applications.