Bronx Excellence Charter Schools · Grades K–8 · STEM Partnership
Excellence Community Schools and Harding Media joined hands to give every scholar in the Bronx — young women and young men of color — a science education with real labs, real data and real audiences.
Whatever it takes
Every scholar runs the lab, every day — no observers.
College-ready rigor
NGSS-aligned science on a shared 4-point scholar rubric.
Bronx-built
Curriculum, media and mentors sourced from the borough.
Excellence Community Schools
× Harding Media LLC
Watch first · How the labs work
Every grade gets one signature investigation. The lab grows with the scholar — from touching and naming in Kindergarten, to AR and 3D models in the elementary years, to VR investigations, live data and a defended finding by Grade 8.
The film has no spoken dialogue; the transcript describes the music and every scene on screen.
Kindergarten
Step 1 of 9
Needs of Plants and Animals
What do living things need to stay alive?
AR3DHands-on
Grade 1
Step 2 of 9
Animal and Plant Defenses
How do living things protect themselves?
VR3DHands-on
Grade 2
Step 3 of 9
Properties of Materials
Which material is right for the job?
AR3DHands-on
Grade 3
Step 4 of 9
Balancing Forces
Why does the train float above the track?
VRSimulationHands-on
Grade 4
Step 5 of 9
Energy Conversions
Where does the energy go?
VRSimulationHands-on
Grade 5
Step 6 of 9
Patterns of Earth and Sky
Why do we see different stars at different times of year?
VR3DSimulation
Grade 6
Step 7 of 9
Microbiome
Why is a patient losing weight after antibiotics?
VR3DSimulation
Grade 7
Step 8 of 9
Geology on Mars
Was there ever liquid water on Mars?
VR3DSimulation
Grade 8
Step 9 of 9
Harnessing Human Energy
How can human motion power a device?
VRSimulationHands-on
This partnership was born through Birch Educational Agency, where Dr. Harding is a science teacher at Bronx Excellence Charter Schools (BECS), employed by Birch Agency and placed at BECS 2. Excellence Community Schools brings the rigor, the uniform standard and the K–8 pipeline. Harding Media brings digital solutions that work — production, data storytelling and the technology that lets scholars publish their science. Together the three build one thing: Bronx science scholars of color.
Excellence Community Schools
College-preparatory K–8 charter schools serving Bronx families with high expectations and a culture of scholarship.
Harding Media LLC / Birch Educational Agency
Dr. Harding is a science teacher at BECS, employed by Birch Agency and placed at BECS 2, while Harding Media supplies digital solutions that work — production, classroom technology and the tools scholars use to share findings.
Birch Educational Agency
Birch places specialized educators in New York City schools. Through Birch, Dr. Harding was placed at BECS 2 as a science teacher for Bronx Excellence Charter Schools.
In the classroom
Teaching Amplify Science across the middle grades surfaced the gap: scholars could investigate, but they needed better tools to model, record and publish what they found.
Harding Media LLC
Harding Media brought digital solutions that work — media production, classroom technology and data storytelling — into the science block.
Immersive labs
The C.indyVerse VR, AR, 3D and simulation labs launched, giving every K–8 Amplify unit multiple ways in, including IEP-aligned paths.
Today
One partnership, one standard: Bronx science scholars of color who can run an investigation and defend it in public.
Birch Educational Agency placements and school partnerships are arranged through the contact form.
Six strands, one arc: notice a phenomenon, investigate it, model it, then defend it in front of the community.
Strand 01 · Lab
How do young scientists build evidence they can defend?
Explore this strand →
Strand 02 · Media
How do we tell the story of our data so the Bronx listens?
Explore this strand →
Strand 03 · Engineering
What can we engineer that did not exist on our block before?
Explore this strand →
Strand 04 · Data
What does the data say about air, water and health where we live?
Explore this strand →
Strand 05 · Mentorship
Who is already doing this work, and how do we join them?
Explore this strand →
Strand 06 · Showcase
How do we defend our findings in front of the community?
Explore this strand →
The Bronx campuses of the Excellence Community Schools network, each running the partnership science program on the same college-preparatory standard.
Grades K–8 · Parkchester / Morris Park
Founded in 2004, the founding campus of the network and one of the highest-performing K–8 charter schools in New York.
★ Home school of the partnership
Grades K–8 · Morris Park / Pelham Parkway
Founded in 2016 and a National Blue Ribbon School in the Exemplary High Performing category. “There’s no place like 2!” — and it is the home campus of the Harding Media partnership.
BECS 2 is the only campus with the full VR/AR science studio — headset-ready Amplify labs, a 3D specimen wall, a student media crew that films and edits every investigation, and IEP-personalized lab missions built the same week a scholar’s mandate is reviewed. Scholars leave with a published science film and a portfolio, not just a grade.
See the immersive labs BECS 2 scholars run →Grades K–8 · Wakefield / Williamsbridge
Founded in 2017 and celebrated its first 8th grade graduating class in 2025.
Grades K–8 (growing) · Wakefield / Edenwald
The newest Bronx campus, building out its science studio with Harding Media support.
2000 Benedict Avenue, Bronx, NY 10462
Network contact form and per-school email directoryCampus addresses and school leadership are drawn from publicly published Excellence Community Schools and NYSED/SUNY charter documents; please confirm with the campus, as assignments can change year to year. Schools are emailed through the network contact form rather than published inboxes.
Science starts in kindergarten. Elementary scholars move from noticing the world, to testing it, to explaining it out loud — the same arc the middle grades defend at the symposium.
Grades K–1
Scholars observe, sort and describe the world — weather journals, plant growth and simple sink-or-float tests.
Grades 2–3
Scholars turn questions into fair tests, measure with real tools and record results in their first lab notebooks.
Grades 4–5
Scholars build models, chart their data and give their first public claim-evidence-reasoning presentations.
Every scholar who walks through the door belongs in the lab — with the supports, language and mentorship that make that real.
Girls lead investigations, hold the instruments and present the findings — a lab where leadership is the default, not the exception.
Boys build engineering identity through design challenges, mentorship and public defense of their own work.
Science vocabulary is taught in both languages, and family communication goes home bilingual so no scholar sits on the sideline.
IEP mandates drive personalized labs, adapted tools and the supports each scholar is legally entitled to receive.
Weekly scholar reports, bilingual family science nights and open lab hours keep the whole household part of the work.
Open enrollment by lottery. No test, no screen, no tracking — the lab belongs to all children of the Bronx.
Students receiving special education services get labs built around their own IEP mandates — adapted tools, extended time, scaffolded reading, sensory-aware stations and related-service scheduling built into the science block, not bolted on after it.
How it works
Opens in a new tab. Never upload an IEP over email or text.
Privacy & compliance
Enrollment, family science nights and open lab hours for Bronx Excellence families. Reach the partnership team for schools, dates and tours.
