In the Lower School, students build foundational skills in technology classes, and growth continues in the classroom to promote the creating, sharing and reflecting of deeper learning skills. Each of our Lower School classrooms has a ratio of two electronic devices per student, enabling students to collaborate, create and build strong connections through social learning.

In pre-kindergarten through first grade, students use iPads; in second grade through fourth grade, students use laptops as their primary access. Students begin using the Google Suite of educational applications for document curation, sharing and creating. The classroom focus includes components addressing digital citizenship and literacy.

Every class in the Lower School makes weekly visits to the Launch Pad, our specialized technology space with components to teach building, coding, wearables and production. These modules build a foundation in computer science, engineering, fabrication and design for young learners, and prepare them for self-directed learning and responsible citizenship as they grow.

The Kinkaid Middle School strives to cultivate and nurture creative learners who work collaboratively, communicate effectively and examine critically. Teachers use technology to provide content for students that meets individual needs. Students in fifth grade to eighth grade have access to their own personal laptop to support their learning. Our current device is a MacBook.

Our 1:1 environment supports a student-centered approach where teachers facilitate learning, as opposed to a more traditional teacher-led lecture model. Students are given more choice and ownership in their learning, which leads to greater engagement, fulfillment and understanding.

The Middle School utilizes two maker spaces: the Incubator (aka the Inn) and the Nest. These spaces are home to some of the larger tools, such as laser cutters and large format 3D printers, that support the ideate-design-prototype cycle for problem solving. Students from all curricula, not just math and science, utilize these tools for building and construction.

In Middle School, Kinkaid students begin participating in interscholastic robotics competitions, which offer the opportunity to research, build and design robots to solve a variety of challenges.

Technology is integrated into the Upper School curriculum across classes and grade levels, from word processing to research to data analysis. However, there are a few areas in which computer skills are particularly central to the classroom or activity.

For example, in the arts, students create the layouts for various student productions, manipulate digital images and photographs, and use digital editing tools in several visual arts and filmmaking classes. Students compose music, create sound effects and control lighting using computers in their technical theater classes.

Kinkaid offers a variety of computer science elective classes for Upper School students. Through a two-year cycle of semester-long classes, students learn about robotics, game development, visual art and app development. Our Advanced Placement class prepares students for the AP Computer Science “A” test while exploring additional topics in computer science. Starting in 2017-2018, we will be teaching a fourth-year, college-level “Structures and Algorithms” class.

Kinkaid’s Upper School has been involved in the “maker” movement for several years, and it now offers students access to seven 3D printers along with a laser cutter, vinyl cutter and CNC mill. During the Interim Term, classes are offered in design and engineering in 2D and 3D using these tools, as well as a “tinkering” class. During the school year, students are welcome to build, cut, carve and fabricate objects of their choosing.

A mash-up of computer science and making, the division-wide robotics program at Kinkaid has several Upper School components. The Robotics Club caters to robotics enthusiasts and acts as a companion to our two robotics teams, one each for the FIRST FTC robotics league and the VEX league. In the 2015-2016 season, Kinkaid’s FTC team advanced to the world championships.