Nurturing a love of learning, a spark of creativity, and an eye for innovation are foundations of curriculum projects developed by the ESJ Technology & Innovation Department. A key goal of the department is to provide engaging and challenging development in digital literacy and technology to find tomorrow’s opportunities and solutions for today’s problems.  Real-world applications of computer science and inquiry-based learning are at the heart of projects in the classroom, computer lab, or STEM learning spaces around campus during or after the traditional school day. Freely working through the spaces between hardware and software in lower or upper school classrooms is building a lifetime of confidence for ESJ students and strengthening the future communities they will serve and help build. 

Middle and Upper Schools

In sixth through eighth grades, students will begin to delve into the iterative design process, learning to brainstorm, design, test, and revise their ideas in projects that bring together foundations in Google products and Microsoft Office with increasing challenges in programming from block coding in Scratch to writing code in Python. Interacting with the world through a variety of presentation software, web development, and infographics moves students to a new level of authorship. Access to CAD software helps students visualize a rapidly advancing realization of ideas from rapid prototyping to sharing and promoting new concepts of their own creation. 

By the time the ESJ student reaches Upper School, they will be comfortable with the tools and expectations of iterative design, anticipating challenges, and the need for revision. In courses such as Introduction to Engineering Design, Computer Programming, Simulation/Game Design, and the AP Computer Science offerings, the Upper School student will use industry-level software such as Xcode and Google Sketchup to design or code projects. The STEM learning and literacy inherent in the Technology & Innovation curriculum at Episcopal is supported by two student computer labs, a Robotics/STEM Lab within a maker space environment, and a growing list of hardware and software to support the rapidly evolving needs of the 21st-century student. Working with the STEM community in Northeast Florida as part of First Robotics, Episcopal students in sixth through 12th grades will also learn the importance of collaboration and community partnership