Teachers came to the Jan. 8 School Committee meeting with a wind turbine and a box fan. These teachers came to demonstrate the possibilities of Wareham Middle School’s future course offerings.

The science, technology, engineering and math academy– or STEM – bases classroom projects off of these four core subjects. Wareham Middle School will be adding English and Language areas to its program, calling it STEAM.

The goal of STEAM is get students interested in these subjects because there is a demand for their related labor markets.

“What the STEAM academy will do… is give you a direct application in 21st century skills,” said Janice Barton, 7th grade science teacher.

“All of projects will be hands-on… and our STEAM units include power and energy, the elements and processes, life and movement, transportation, communication, invents, robots and automation and mechanics” said 7th grade teacher Julie Walker. “They are all part of our 7th grade science standards.”

STEAM courses will be 70 minutes each day for students. The courses will be offered to one third of 7th graders in its first year, then expanded into the high school by its third year.

By the third year, the academy would have 320 students from grades 7 through 9 enrolled. The hope is to have a student-to-teacher ratio of 20:1.

In the first year, there will be over five staffers directly involved in the program. In its last year, over 20 staffers will be involved.

The total cost of the first year of the academy will be $139,400, including $65,000 for a new full-time teacher and $51,100 for technology.