The Post Oak Learning Arc

My work at Post Oak takes me to both campuses, giving me the opportunity to see the full developmental spectrum—from fourteen-month-olds to eighteen-year-olds. It is a rare privilege to be in a place where you can observe growth over a seventeen-year arc.

We see the learner from toddling to driving, from new words to extended essays, from counting blocks to calculus. The arc of a circle is a section, a small part of the whole. As parents and educators, we see our children and students a bit at a time, knowing that there is much more underneath the surface, growing and changing, to be revealed later.  

I meet regularly with administrative team members whose office windows look onto the toddler playground. We try to focus on the task at hand, but inevitably, our eyes wander over to the small child climbing the steps to the slide or trying to propel a tricycle. They are experiencing their bodies, gravity, balance, and movement. In the classroom, we offer lots of little things for their hands to spoon, stack, fold, and roll because coordination and control of their bodies are the focus. However, we also recognize this work and play as something else: physics. 

No, we do not have a physics curriculum in the Young Children’s Community, but we know they cannot move about their day without experiencing it. Their many opportunities for activity and discovery are not just hands-on but are fully immersive. Students explore a variety of materials, trusting that curiosity will draw them in. They engage with these materials as long as needed—repeating, experimenting, and making sense of their experiences at their own pace. The active learning combined with their interest ensures a deep understanding of their experience. They acquire the first building block of physics.

A toddler in YCC soon transitions into the Primary classroom, where hands-on physics awaits them. In Primary, a child might experiment with sound cylinders, carefully matching and grading the loudness of beans, sand, or rice hidden inside. Another might drop objects into the water, watching closely to see if they sink or float. A third might test the pull of a magnet, starting with a tray of materials before venturing into the classroom to discover what else might stick. The experiences may seem simple, but they arise naturally—sparked by curiosity and deepened through repetition. Children return to them again and again, driven by the freedom to explore until something “clicks” and a new understanding takes hold. We do not talk about sound waves, viscosity, or attraction just yet. We let the experience enliven their fingers and form a synapse in the brain that we can call on later. Another building block is set in place.

Physics at the Elementary level is integrated into the study of the sun and earth. Students begin to learn the etymology of terms, presented in story-like fashion in the preamble to the presentation. To illustrate the changing seasons, we bring out a globe with a knitting needle fastened through its center and a single-bulb lamp. As students rotate the globe and move it around the “sun,” they see firsthand how light and shadow shift, revealing why the seasons change. Inevitably a student asks, “What keeps the earth on its path? Why doesn’t it fly off to another part of space?” Many more physics concepts (e.g., motion, heat/energy, electricity) await the Elementary students in the form of science experiments—all connected to their study of the earth, all providing the context necessary to keep them focused on the big picture while learning finer details.

In the Middle School science classes at Post Oak, students engage in a hands-on, inquiry-based exploration of motion and Newton's Laws, gaining insight into the grand sweep of the laws of nature. Physics transforms from abstract equations into something students can see, feel, and manipulate through hands-on experiments. Using high-quality laboratory materials from the Cambridge Physics Outlet (CPO), a program developed by MIT professor Tom Hsu, students explore these fundamental concepts firsthand. Using specialized tools, they investigate key principles like velocity, acceleration, and force with precision. These real-world applications help students appreciate how equations can elegantly capture the complexities of motion, fostering a deep understanding of the fundamental laws that govern the physical world.

All this culminates in High School, where students in grades 9 and 10 experience physics and related labs in their integrated science course. Students in grades 11 and 12 can choose physics as their two-year upper-level IB science course. Last month, a group of five students proposed and completed a two-week interim course (J- term) in which they studied the different types of waves: mechanical and electromagnetic. They examined the mathematics behind them and then constructed several different “wave machines” to demonstrate what they learned. In addition to building a ripple tank and a Rubens tube, the students videoed this visualization of sound waves using a subwoofer, a tube, and water. 

J-terms are one of the clearest examples of how we connect the student’s inner drive, interest, and curiosity into a meaningful and relevant learning opportunity—one that displays the most expansive and most developed arc. Yet at all levels, learning is never just one directional; choice is infused into the program, giving us a glimpse into what may later be revealed. Students experience the presentations that teachers provide—and teachers create learning moments from student curiosity. Post Oak students are curious, engage with others, and approach each experience as a learning opportunity that reveals more of the arc above the surface.