SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy K-5
SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy – Where Learning Inspires Children
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. -- Benjamin Franklin
At SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy, we nurture curious, creative, and compassionate learners
who will shape a better, more sustainable world.
Our K- 5 program, launching in 2025-26, aims to spark joy in learning
while preparing students for 21st-century challenges.
Many studies have shown that schooling often stifles
curiosity and creativity due to its test-driven focus.
Review this study:
TEDxTucson George Land The Failure of Success
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKMq-rYtnc
SF S.T.E.AM. Academy is an innovative elementary school
that nurtures children’s intrinsic motivation, creativity, and real-world problem-solving skills.
Our research-backed, student-centered approach embraces hands-on,
interdisciplinary learning: core academics enriched with arts, movement,
and life skills such as cooking, gardening, and crafting.
Authentic, real-world problem-solving fosters confidence and creativity.
A connected, thriving learning community where children feel valued and inspired.
Education should be transformative—a launchpad for every child’s future possibilities.
At SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy, learning is active, engaging, and meaningful,
equipping students to think analytically, innovate boldly,
and thrive in an ever-changing world.
We nurture the next generation of problem-solvers,
creative thinkers, and compassionate leaders.
Apply for School Year 2025-26! Your child's future starts today!
Gigi Carunungan, Ed.D.
Head of School
Our Faculty
Our faculty comprises experienced educators and professionals passionate about teaching children and committed to fostering engaging, student-centered learning environments.
We carefully select and train our teachers based on their academic backgrounds, dedication to humanist (progressive) learning philosophies, and expertise in evidence-based teaching methodologies informed by the learning sciences.
Our teachers are:
• Caring: Ensure every child feels seen, supported, and valued in their learning journey.
• Curious: Constantly seek new ways to enhance their teaching and inspire a love for learning.
• Creative: Conduct dynamic, engaging learning experiences that encourage innovation and exploration.
The Academy's Learning Institute
Our In-House Learning Institute is dedicated to training and developing teachers who embody our vision, mission, and progressive, research-based approach to education.
We cultivate a community of lifelong learners, innovative thinkers, and compassionate educators who strive to make meaningful educational impact.
The In-House Learning Institute provides teachers with ongoing professional development, coaching, and collaborative learning opportunities. This ensures that our educators are well-versed in cutting-edge teaching methodologies and 21st-century ideas and are deeply committed to guiding and inspiring students through transformative educational experiences.
The institute is a community of lifelong learners, innovative thinkers, and compassionate educators who
guide and inspire students through transformative and thoughtful educational experiences.
Gigi Carunungan, Ed.D.
A visionary educational leader dedicated to transforming learning environments that grow students' potential in the 21st century.
Synapse School and Imagination School
Co-founded Synapse School and Imagination School in Silicon Valley. These kindergarten through eighth-grade schools offer integrated, holistic, thematic STEAM curricula through creative, authentic, and immersive humanist learning and assessment methods. Synapse School consistently achieved ratings above national norms among independent schools, focusing on building students’ innate abilities and providing multiple pathways to demonstrate mastery and creativity. The school's curriculum incorporates elements of art and design as well as computational thinking while exploring and understanding science, social studies, communications, and math. In its founding years, she led the school's growth from its first classroom in a garage in Palo Alto to a 22,000-square-foot facility in Menlo Park.
Learning Helix
Developed the Helical Model™, a neuroscience-driven approach that promotes higher-order thinking, knowledge transfer, and student agency. This model is designed to meet the essential learning needs for students to thrive in a competitive global economy. It creates an immersive, dynamic, and solutions-oriented learning environment that helps young learners enhance their abilities to achieve advanced comprehension through observation, analysis, reasoning, mastery, and creative application of subject matter to real-world challenges. This learning model shaped the core academic curricula at Synapse School and Imagination School.
Design/Academics Summer Camps
Founded and operationalized a design-driven academic enrichment camp for kindergarten to 12th-grade students. This design-oriented camp offers Design Life, Design Power, Design Physics, Design Math, Design Games, and Game Changers with design entrepreneurship programs. The summer camp attracted student participation from over 36 San Francisco Bay Area schools.
Game Changers empowers teens to tackle real-world challenges by utilizing advanced technology in innovative, market-driven, and scalable applications. Participants discover and pursue their passions. They turn ideas into products through design thinking. The learning experience reflects the collaborative work environments typical of innovative Silicon Valley. Teens formulate strategies using the Lean Business Start-Up Framework. The camp concludes with teens presenting their business models at the Dolphin Tank, featuring successful entrepreneurs, investors, and community leaders.
Interactive Online STEAM Learning
As the Chief Learning Architect of Playnovate, an online STEAM learning company, Gigi led an international team of STEAM experts in developing over 300 hands-on and interactive online lessons, learning kits, and curricula for elementary school children. The lessons were applications of the Next Generation Science and Engineering Standards (NGSS).
Math Stories: MathXplorers
Gigi's doctoral dissertation addressed the decades-long math learning crisis causing generations of students' math anxiety and diminished interest in math learning. Taking off from her observations and studies on how children learn best, she produced and tested math stories to improve children’s math proficiency in diverse classrooms. Through these picture math storybooks, she integrates math concepts into real-world simulations and employs a humanistic approach to learning.
In her study (tests) of the math stories in one of the lowest-performing schools in San Jose, California, children, through one story, mastered math concepts they had struggled with for a semester. Moreover, these strategies aimed to reduce the need for additional professional development and alleviate math anxiety for elementary school teachers.
Publications
Published inventive and meaningful learning programs elevating traditional education to 21st-century curricula. These include Digital Media in the Classroom, Documentary Moviemaking for Social Studies, Maya the Clothes Maker and Ramon the Button Maker, Manuel the Table Maker, Farmer Antonio and Ruby the Ice Cream Maker, and Pipa the Architect. Teachers College Press of Columbia University will publish her next book, Teaching through Math Stories, in May 2025.