At Saturday’s Parents’ Association Spring Party and Auction, the Providence Day School community learned more about the school’s culture of innovation and supported IDEAS@PD, a new school curriculum, pedagogical approach, and department that is set to occupy the newly renovated space in the Dickson-Hemby building in the fall of 2022. Click here to view renderings of the new space.

IDEAS@PD is a reimagining of the computer science department that offers students the chance to explore and expand their passions around innovation, design, entrepreneurship, analytics, and sustainability. This unique program invites faculty and students to work across boundaries at the intersections of traditional disciplines and departments. The learning arising from these courses always aims at applied, collaborative problem-solving. Students have the opportunity to identify challenges they care about and want to pursue, calling upon skills and mindsets delineated in the PD Passport. 

These courses fit into two interdisciplinary strands, the first of which is computing and innovation, with Upper School courses including computer-aided design, web applications, and programming. The second strand – design, entrepreneurship, and finance – offers courses such as architecture design, social entrepreneurship, and STEM research and design. In Middle School, computer programming with Alice, EV3 robotics, web design, computer applications, broadcast media, entrepreneurship, and introduction to engineering all fall under the IDEAS@PD umbrella.

Click here or on the image below to watch a video introducing innovation and IDEAS@PD.