Repair IN Our Middle School STEAM CLASS
In April 2025 I led the pilot 7th-Grade STEAM Fix It Fest at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach, California. It was a dynamic, hands-on celebration of sustainability, creativity, and community, centered on the theme of repair. Students researched and reflected on the issues surrounding repair, and then selected broken or discarded items they wanted to fix, ranging from bikes, to jewelry, to RC cars to thermal printers, and clothing. They partnered with local experts, community members, and even their own family members to bring these items back to life. The event created a meaningful opportunity to reduce waste, foster problem-solving skills, and bring people together in a fun and purposeful way.
Fix It Fest fostered a culture of repair over replacement, encouraging students to engage with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) principles in an inviting, collaborative setting. The event was designed to teach students problem-solving skills through repair and restoration, and to empower them to think critically about sustainability, engineering, and resourcefulness by working with expert repair coaches to troubleshoot and fix broken items.
The program was structured as a two-day, in-class, mandatory STEAM unit. The first day’s 60 minute class was dedicated to instruction, research and preparation for the next day’s hands-on class. The second day’s 90 minute class was all about students fixing their broken object, further research, and preparing a slide deck presentation about what they’d learned.
Ten parent volunteers supported the class of twenty. Students and adults worked side-by-side to repair the items they’d brought from home, with an 85% success rate.
Community volunteer helping a student repair a bicycle at Thurston Middle School, April 2025.
As the district’s Coordinator of Environmental Literacy, I was thrilled to see how engaged and excited everyone was. Laguna Beach parents, relatives, and local community members worked side by side with students. It was not just about getting something fixed. Students sat with their expert, asked great questions, and applied what they had learned in class to real-world challenges. The research component was crucial. Students investigated the environmental, economic, societal, and well-being impacts of their objects, considering issues such as material sourcing, access to repair resources, and how repairing instead of discarding supports a circular economy. Many even discovered “YouTube University” as a powerful tool for self-guided learning.
Fix It Fest directly supports Laguna Beach Unified School District’s long-term sustainability goals, including becoming carbon neutral and achieving zero waste by 2030. By learning how to extend the life of everyday items, students became empowered as changemakers and climate-conscious problem solvers. This was not just about fixing objects. It was about repairing our mindset, reconnecting with our community, and reimagining a more sustainable future, together.
Fix It Fest was held as part of the 7th-grade STEAM program, which proved to be the perfect academic fit. At this stage, students are developing independence, critical thinking, and communication skills. The event provided an ideal blend of applied science, research, and community connection, helping students bridge classroom learning with real-world challenges.
Next year’s plans include increasing the number of 7th-grade classes offered the unit, and possibly expanding it to other grades. Fix It Fest teaching resources and supporting materials will be fleshed out for general usage, and made available in the Culture of Repair Educator Resource Library.
The event aligns with all three of Laguna Beach Unified School District’s sustainability goals:
Reducing environmental impacts and costs by encouraging repair and reuse rather than disposal.
Improving the health and wellness of students and staff by fostering purpose-driven, hands-on learning in a collaborative setting.
Providing effective environmental education by integrating research, reflection, and real-world problem-solving into core curriculum experiences.
Community volunteer helping a student mend a garment at Thurston Middle School, April 2025.
Fix It Fest also directly responds to regional waste concerns. The Frank R. Bowerman landfill in Irvine, one of the largest in California, receives up to 8,000 tons of waste per day. Orange County as a whole produces more than 4 million tons of solid waste annually. The county is facing significant challenges in reaching higher diversion rates due to contamination in recycling streams, low awareness, and a culture of over-consumption.
However, Orange County’s waste policy is shifting. OC Waste & Recycling has a strategic goal to improve landfill diversion through expanded public education, organics recycling, repair and reuse initiatives, and compliance. Fix It Fest helps address the overconsumption problem by aligning with major California waste policies, including SB 1383, AB 341, SB 54, AB 1276, e-waste recycling regulations, and AB 793. These laws promote a circular economy and responsible resource use through organic recovery, plastic reduction, commercial recycling, and extended producer responsibility. Programs like Fix It Fest help build student and community awareness around these policies while giving them a tangible way to contribute to positive change.
Next year, we hope to bring even more local agencies into the fold. There is exciting potential for collaboration with the City of Laguna Beach and OC Waste & Recycling. Their sustainability goals align with ours, and their involvement could enhance the educational experience, deepen local impact, and model what strong civic and school partnerships can achieve. Together, we can grow this work and inspire students to become the next generation of resourceful, informed, and environmentally responsible citizens.
Gloria Harwood is the Coordinator of Environmental Literacy for Laguna Beach Unified School District, California, a new teaching position dedicated to incorporating environmental literacy education in all district schools and disciplines. She has over a decade of experience in education, including nine years as a science teacher, and was awarded a Master of Science in Environmental Studies, with an emphasis in Sustainability, by California State University, Fullerton.
In this role she collaborates with the Director of Facilities and Sustainability to implement LBUSD’s Sustainability Plan and California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs, see below) across the district.
Gloria provides students and staff with opportunities to engage in sustainability projects. She directs professional learning for educators, integrating environmental literacy into classroom practices, while also fostering community partnerships that connect learning with local environmental actions.
She also co-chairs the CAELI District Innovation Hub. The California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI) is a collective action network that seeks to ensure access to high-quality environment-based learning for all California’s TK–12 students. CAELI Innovation Hubs focus on equitably scaling environmental literacy in schools, communities, and throughout the state.
California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) is a teaching resource of the California Education and the Environment Initiative, a program of CalRecycle's Office of Education and the Environment (OEE), in partnership with the California Department of Education’s California Regional Environmental Education Community Network and Ten Strands, a nonprofit organization that supports environment-based learning.