“Most school systems don’t have the skillset to build this from the ground up without a partner like SmartLab Learning.”
Middle school is
where future-ready mindsets take shape.
Middle school learners want to explore real careers—not just imagine them. Pathfinder invites students to experience the tools, roles, and challenges of industries like engineering, healthcare, and app design. These formative years are a launchpad for building and furthering STEM identity, confidence, and curiosity.
SmartLab students in action: ah-HA!
Pathfinder Courses: Robotics, App Design,
Digital Media, and Engineering
Course-based STEM learning grounded
in the real world.
Pathfinder is built for middle school. Students engage with four distinct courses— like App Design, Engineering Design, Digital Media, and Robotics—each structured around real industry roles and lasting challenges. Courses include scaffolded units that blend ethical decision-making, design thinking, collaboration, and communication. SMART Challenges offer additional opportunities to apply and extend learning through short, career-aligned projects.
Each course opens a window into real careers
Pathfinder includes four core courses, each designed around a meaningful, career-connected problem. Students develop technical skills, work in teams, and apply ethical reasoning as they build solutions. Every unit builds toward action—and comes with all the required materials to support it, from age-appropriate tech tools to consumables and build supplies. Many teacher-facilitators will choose to go even further with included 10-hour SMART Challenges. .
SmartLab Pathfinder (6-8)
Community Connections
(Engineering Design)
Investigate community planning, infrastructure, and sustainability. Units guide students to prototype structures, analyze population needs, and present to local stakeholders.
Industry:
Construction & Architecture
Integrated STEM Application:
Modeling & Design
SmartLab Pathfinder (6-8)
Farm Fresh
(App Design)
Explore user-centered thinking and digital product development. Students define problems, build wireframes, and test functional apps that make everyday life better.
Industry: Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy
Integrated STEM Application:
Information Technology
SmartLab Pathfinder (6-8)
Purposeful Media
(Digital Media)
Use storytelling as a tool for social impact. Students create persuasive campaigns, film original content, and learn how media shapes civic change.
Industry:
Agriculture, Natural Resources,& Energy
Integrated STEM Application:
Robotics & Control Technology
SmartLab Pathfinder (6-8)
Human + Machine
(Robotics)
Automate meaningful real-world tasks. Students engineer and refine robotic systems that solve challenges in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and logistics.
Industry:
Construction & Architecture
Integrated STEM Application:
Modeling & Design
What career-connected learning looks like
SmartLab students bring STEM applications to life through meaningful, hands-on projects. These examples show how learners use real tools and technologies to explore and solve challenges:
SMART Challenges: Optional additions for deeper application
Additional challenges
give students more
ways to grow.
SMART Challenges are 10-hour career-connected experiences designed to extend Pathfinder’s core courses—though any of them also work well as supplements to core STEM classes. Each 10-hour challenge builds on the same design process and learning goals found throughout Pathfinder. With a wide selection of themes spanning multiple industries, these flexible projects help students apply skills in new contexts, reinforce foundational competencies, and explore emerging technologies.
Watch: Educators describe how students grow through
real-world STEM challenges for college & career readiness.
Students do more than learn—they become problem-solvers.
As students move through Pathfinder’s challenges and courses, they learn to think critically, collaborate, and persist through real-world obstacles. These aren’t hypothetical projects—they’re grounded in industry practice and human-centered design. Students leave with a sense of purpose, confidence, and skill that applies well beyond the classroom.
What Educators Say
“SmartLab Learning’s turnkey solutions allowed us to move quickly to implement a district-wide STEM program…the SmartLab Learning solutions plus the professional development allowed our students to be actively engaged in project-based learning immediately.”
“By moving beyond textbooks and theory, investing in SmartLab HQs technology gives students a chance to succeed in an ever-changing, fast-moving environment while fostering essential skills such as communication, flexibility, creativity, and collaboration. We’re equipping students with the tools, resources, and confidence to adapt to new technologies and ideas that push the world forward.”
“The communication I’ve had with industry leaders within Michigan about the program itself comes primarily from their visits to our schools. I tell them, ‘Get prepared, because you’re going to have 18-year-old kids with more knowledge than some of your employees.’ That’s an exciting proposition for them because a lot of jobs are unfilled.”
Success in Action
Districts across the country use SmartLab to strengthen engagement, improve performance, and empower students.
Explore how different communities are making it work.
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Ready to transform learning in your school?
Together, we’ll bring the SmartLab ecosystem to your school. Students will engage deeply in STEM, take on real-world challenges, and build the skills for lifelong learning, leadership, and career readiness.
