Saturday, October 3, 2026
With teacher Natasha Nurse leading the charge, Long Beach Middle School has launched a new humanities and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) extension curriculum for sixth-graders.
“Helping students recognize transferable skills to the real world, and connecting STEM with other subjects,” Nurse said, are the two primary goals of the new curriculum.
It is divided into four units, taught in progression throughout the school year. Unit 1, which began in September and was written by Nurse, featured learning about greenhouses, in which students had the chance to examine past farming techniques and grow their own plants.
“The goal of this exercise was to provide the students with a hands-on approach,” Nurse said. “Allow them to follow the plant-growing process, and get out there and collect data.”
Students had the opportunity to research a variety of plant life. In the greenhouse behind the middle school, they grew familiar edible items such as watercress, radishes, arugula and alfalfa, and learned how variables like planting depth, exposure to sunlight, seed type and soil integrity affected the plants’ growth.
Students tracked their results, and recorded and submitted their findings in Google videos.
Sixth-grader Dani Altmann said the experience helped her see how ideas from ancient civilizations can shape the present and the future. “I learned how inventions evolved over time to become more efficient,” she said, “and how plants, science and innovation all connect to society.”
While the hands-on curriculum is meant to be engaging for students, it can be overwhelming for teachers and students alike. Nurse explained that providing too much information can affect the flow of the curriculum.
”It can be a scary thing, but it’s an opportunity for students to get messy,” she said. “It exposes students to skills in advance, and allows them to connect it to something real.”
Students are now embarking on the second section of the curriculum — exploring ancient Egyptian civilizations, from buildings and structures to the practices and tools the Egyptians used. Examples include irrigation canals, simple machines, a shaduf — a hand-operated device for lifting water — and ramps.
“The goal is to expose students to planning, testing and improvement of structures, while helping them recognize how ancient civilizations play a role in modern technology,” Nurse explained.
Students will construct a pyramid using bricks made of cardboard, with poems inscribed on them as part of a joint effort among the extension curriculum classes. The pyramid will be on display on Dec. 18 as part of Egyptian Evening, when parents will be able to see students’ work for themselves.
Nurse said that students have been receptive to the new curriculum, which brings her “a ton of joy.”
“Seeing that excitement in students’ eyes is what it’s all about,” she said. “These are our future doctors and engineers. The things we teach them now will help them to build a sustainable future.”
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, Nurse and three other teachers were approached by middle school Principal Erica Northcutt about engineering the new learning approach. Northcutt, Science Director Cristine Torsi, Literacy Director Jennifer Hoffman and Social Studies Director Richard Rogers were looking for a new way to engage students.
“The curriculum is designed to help move education forward by encouraging students to innovate and create through comparison of the past to inform the future,” Northcutt said.
She added that encouraging them to engage in hands-on learning that spans a range of content areas helps them sharpen transferable skills like inquiry, communication and problem-solving.
Throughout the quarterly projects, students will utilize the artificial intelligence platform MagicStudent to ask questions about both the time period and the experiences of people in the past — a function that both Nurse and Northcutt have praised.
Nurse described the application as “a strong thinking and learning partner” for students, and Northcutt added that it is “a powerful tool to complement their learning experience.”
There will be two more units in the curriculum. Unit 3, also written by Nurse, is called “Curious Minds: From Wonder to WOW!” and Unit 4 is “Tomorrowland: Building and Engineering the Future Today. ”
“I want to make sure what they’re learning applies to what’s beyond the four walls of the classroom,” Nurse said, “and to chase better questions and better evidence.”
