Upper School

November 11, 2019

How we work, and learn to work, is changing for real and in real time. The technology, pace, and business models that define our local and national economies are shifting almost by the day, with old structures retiring and new approaches taking center stage. This fundamental change in career paths and professional expectations is shaping how progressive schools view the skills they teach students, and how they create opportunities for students to grow and prepare in and beyond the classroom.

Alison Kay, EY Global Accounts Committee Chair, writes that “we can help the next generation, who have not yet entered the workplace, by being alert to the scale of change taking place.” She emphasizes that “I think the best we can do as parents, mentors, and business leaders is to support qualities that will help them to deal with and work through uncertainty.” In her article, Kay outlines the key skills that will help students prepare for jobs that don’t yet exist, or that are evolving rapidly: Read More

October 31, 2019

Physics 9 represents a change to the science curriculum starting in the 2019-2020 school year at MPA. For the first time, ninth graders are taking physics, and this adjustment to the science sequence at MPA allows for a variety of electives in the twelfth-grade year.

“By moving physics to the ninth grade, we are creating a foundational science course for all ninth graders that will introduce them to both the essential principles of physics and the core skills need for success in Upper School science courses,” says Hannah Sullivan, Upper School science teacher. “We’ve moved many of the core skills formally developed in the ninth grade science and engineering course to this new ninth grade course, while at the same time covering the topics typically covered in a high school physics course with a conceptual approach geared to the ninth graders.”

Physics 9 is experimentally based and introduces students to the principles of physics that make up our everyday experiences. Students discover some of the ways the physical world operates, as well as investigate motion, forces, energy, waves, optics, and electricity. Engineering and problem-solving principles are incorporated through several project-based design challenges. The egg drop project is one of the challenges that students undertake as part of the course. Students design a device under specified weight and volume that would protect an egg in fall from 11 meters. This was related to their unit studying Falling Objects, Newton’s Laws, Force, Impulse, and Momentum. Read More