Creating an Engaging and Collaborative Environment

The Pitsco Learning Environment

The STREAM Missions classroom is booming with energy and excitement. Students are active in their learning as they work with their four-student Crews through a series of hands-on activities over the course of seven class periods.

In the Missions environment, collaboration takes center stage as every Crew member is assigned a role of either Commander, Communications Specialist, Information Specialist, or Materials Specialist. The clearly defined roles encourage individual and team accountability and enable each Crew member to contribute. As student teams rotate through different titles, so do they rotate through the various roles, providing a well-balanced experience with differing responsibilities that enable them to practice a number of future-ready skills.

Teachers get back to what they do best – building relationships with their students. As facilitators of learning, educators are responsible for encouraging students to stay on task, to be responsible for their work and the equipment, and to work together with their Crew to find answers and design unique solutions.

Classroom Implementation

STREAM Missions were designed to be implemented rotationally, meaning that each Crew of four students works together through an entire Mission title. Then, students rotate to a new title and a new role within their Crew.

Here’s what to think about when considering implementing Missions:

• Maximum number of students in a class period
• Number of class periods or cohorts that will experience Missions
• Number of years for which you desire to purchase software licenses
• Standards to be addressed by the program

Student- and Educator-Friendly Technology

STREAM Missions are delivered via a proprietary, cloud-based learning management system. The program accommodates 4:1, 2:1, or 1:1 computer-to-student ratios, though the curriculum requires that students work in teams of four.

Students access their content, complete Explorations, and view their progress through each Mission using the system. Instructional content is delivered via a variety of multimodal methods including audio, video, and hands-on activities. Each online exploration also has an associated Mission Journal that students work to complete as they progress through each title. Game-based learning activities are also included to provide feedback on students’ understanding of the content.

Teachers have a wealth of tools and resources at their fingertips through the teacher portal of the learning content management system. Customizable grading rubrics, assessments, and a variety of reports are available for all titles within the system. As long as Internet access is available, teachers can browse their library of Missions titles and view the content of any page, anywhere, anytime. Flexibility and teacher ease were at the forefront of the platform development, and the many tools, resources, and built-in functionalities reflect that.

From a content delivery perspective, teachers have the option to have students read from the Mission Journal, read from the online content, or listen to the content being read aloud through the system.

Furniture for the Collaborative Classroom

Our furniture is designed to meet the needs of educators and elementary students alike.

The Elementary Series furniture is ergonomic and spacious in its design, providing four-student teams a large workspace while enabling easy access to the needed technology, equipment, and supplies. The workspaces are large enough to accommodate for hands-on activities, yet small enough to allow for unobstructed teamwork, group reading, and flexible classroom layouts.

Each furniture piece is built for quality in our US-based manufacturing facility to tolerances measured in a thousandth of an inch. The same talented, hardworking team of people who build the furniture also install it in the classrooms to ensure quality and durability are sustained.

To learn more about our entire line of classroom furniture offerings, download our furniture brochure.