Engineering & Computer Science
Strengthening Logic and Innovative Problem-Solving
The BASIS Curriculum introduces creative problem-solving starting from the earliest years, with the engineering design process providing a foundation for exploration and discovery. Young learners engage with hands-on materials and tools as they learn to ask questions and define problems. By designing, testing, and refining their ideas, students begin to develop the resourcefulness and analytical thinking that support innovation across disciplines. As they mature, students add to those skills: gathering and interpreting data, collaborating with their peers, and solving problems together. These skills are further honed through computer science electives and extracurriculars in middle and high school
Early Learning
Yes, STEM for Young Learners!
In early learning STEM and engineering classes, students explore how the world works through playful, project-based lessons. As they investigate materials, experiment with tools, and bring their ideas to life, they strengthen fine and gross motor skills, begin to see themselves as capable problem-solvers, and delight in the discovery process.
Getting Creative and Solving Problems Together
Guided by expert teachers, young learners practice asking questions, sharing ideas, and working together to overcome challenges. Hands-on building activities encourage them to listen to one another, try creative approaches, and discover that collaboration can lead to stronger—and often more imaginative—solutions.
Primary Program
Thinking Like an Engineer
Students explore creative building projects inspired by a range of engineering disciplines, including civil, computer, and structural engineering. These interdisciplinary experiences draw on skills and concepts from visual art, math, science, and more. Through cross-curricular connections, students learn how engineers bring knowledge from multiple disciplines together to solve real-world problems.
Designing, Testing, and Improving
Each year in grades 1–4, students learn to apply the engineering design process to real-world problems through hands-on investigation. They learn to identify challenges and available resources, develop and test solutions, and refine their ideas based on what they discover—building persistence and an increasingly iterative approach to problem-solving.
Middle School
Applying an Engineering Mindset
Students continue to apply an engineering mindset across the curriculum. In physics, they explore motion and energy and apply engineering while examining how engineered systems, such as bicycles, work. Diverse electives like Stagecraft extend design and technical thinking in hands-on projects, showing students how engineering principles connect to varied challenges.
Becoming Tech Creators
Computer science, programming, and digital design electives invite students to explore how technology works—and what they can create with it. Rather than simply consuming digital content, students begin using computational thinking to design, build, test, and solve problems of their own.
High School
Applying Computing to Complex Challenges
High school students deepen their engineering design and problem-solving skills through AP® Computer Science courses and electives in programming and machine learning. Students can also apply computational thinking, engineering principles, and technology to increasingly complex challenges through robotics and other extracurricular opportunities.
From Advanced Study to Innovation
Seniors can pursue Capstone courses in advanced Java topics, data structures, and the physics of engineering. Through Senior Projects, eligible seniors design and implement individual investigations, often applying engineering and computational thinking to robotics, mechanical design, machine learning, computer vision, and other emerging technologies.
