STEAM Lab School: Itz’at STEAM Academy

Establishing a STEAM-focused High / Vocational School in Belize

The Itz’at STEAM Academy (STEAM Lab School Implementation Project) is designed to be an innovative secondary school for Belize that provides young people with enriching pathways to future-forward education and career opportunities. The school spans First through Fourth Forms (8th to 11th grade U.S. equivalent) and is designed to have 300 students once fully operational. The school will encourages experimentation and innovation by its student and faculty bodies through its integrated, inquiry- and problem-based learning approaches. The school focuses its pedagogy and curriculum on contemporary teaching and learning practices through an integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education while at the same time providing a full curriculum for students including: Belizean studies, English and foreign languages, ethics and systems thinking. In its experimental nature, the school is designed to push the frontiers of secondary education in Belize.

MIT’s approach is grounded in a co-design process that emphasizes inclusive co-creation and capacity building when designing for and with local communities that are affected by the identified challenges. Co-creation with Belize’s local stakeholder communities—teachers, administrators, parents, community members, business people and interested third parties—is at the heart of MIT’s approach.

The MIT Team worked with the school’s teachers, educators and administrators to co-design the curriculum and lesson plans, support teacher professional development, support the implementation of a school-wide internship program, and co-design the school’s policies and procedures. The SLS Implementation Project, implements the Conceptual Design for the STEAM Lab School we developed in 2020.