ALPENA — The Alpena Public Schools Curriculum and Technology Committee recommended new STEM courses to be offered for students at Thunder Bay Junior High during its meeting on Tuesday.

Meaghan Gauthier, director of K-12 curriculum/state and federal programs, said the administrators and dean of students at TBJH have been working really hard to offer more options for the students.

“In grades seven and eight, the goal was to offer more choices in their electives,” she said. “In grade six, the goal was to try to generate some more excitement around science and also get them the basic tech skills needed as we shift to one-to-one instruction.”

The new courses are STEM 6, STEM 7-8, Tech Essentials, and Beyond Google 7-8. The new classes will be partly Project Lead the Way and partly the teacher’s own design.

STEM 6 is going to be a hands-on elective class to boost classroom engagement and excitement, drive collaboration, and deep comprehension. All sixth-graders will take this course first semester next school year.

STEM 7-8 also will be a hands-on elective class and students are going to engage in activities in a variety of science-related areas. Tech Essentials is a class that will develop and enhance the necessary skills to allow students to maximize technology engagement in the classroom.

Beyond Google 7-8 will enhance and support the technology skills of the 21st century learner. Students in the class will have the opportunity to develop, explore, and apply skills in the areas of virtual and augmented reality, photo and video editing, introductory game coding, and other skills to enhance their technology competency.

Gauthier said students already are signed up for the courses for next school year.

“We have enough kids signed up right now to have one position so one teacher will be teaching both STEM 7-8 and Beyond Google 7-8,” she said. “The Project Lead the Way component of STEM 7-8 is medical detectives.”

The curriculum for the Tech Essentials and Beyond Google 7-8 courses hasn’t been written yet. Gauthier said Ashlie O’Connor of the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District will help with writing the curriculum.

The materials associated with the STEM courses will be purchased with the support of the Besser Foundation.

The courses have to be approved by the board of education during its meeting on Monday.

“This is for approval of the courses as they stand,” Gauthier said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.