Mrs Samantha Edmunds - Dean of Inquiry
“But I don’t understand. I thought you said in STEAM, we would think like Scientists?” a young boy in Kindergarten asked. It was his first week at school and his first STEAM lesson. He looked around at the blocks, lego, and loose play materials and the challenge to create something that Charlie the Chimpanzee, Miss Oberle’s trusty companion in STEAM, would need or want at school. With the challenge at hand, the young boy joined a group of other students using Lego and magnetic tiles to create a playground that had a racecourse built through it. The children worked collaboratively to balance all the different pieces, tested the ramp, and made adjustments as they went.
Even though the young boy didn’t realise it yet, he was thinking like a Scientist. His curiosity was being sparked. He was problem-solving and working as part of a team. He was taking thoughtful risks as a critical and creative thinker. This interdisciplinary inquiry is what STEAM is all about.
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics and is a new specialist subject that is being offered to St. Peter’s students from Kindergarten to Year 6. It is an opportunity for students to learn and apply the interdisciplinary concepts explored in their Units of Inquiry and has a focus on hands-on learning by solving real-world problems. For example, Year 5 students have been intrigued by the recent landing of NASA’s Perseverance on Mars but questioned how the samples that are collected during this mission will be returned to earth. In STEAM, students are designing the next Mars rover and designing the instruments it will need to complete its mission and return to Earth. They will create a prototype of their rover which will lead to exploring block coding and robotics. The ability to think creatively and critically is the basis of innovation and ensures that one day, these innovative thinkers will have the skill set required to change the world.
STEAM allows students to take risks in their learning and develop resilience in their problem-solving skills. Kindergarten students recently inquired into an important part of their school, the playground. In one lesson, students built climbing frames using plasticine and matchsticks. They tested their structures to see if it could hold weight and a majority of the time, the structures would collapse. But what was exciting was that no student gave up, they continued to collaborate to try again and refine their designs. Within our STEAM classroom, we value mistakes as part of the learning process and integral to the path towards in-depth learning and ultimately, success.
During STEAM, students are learning skills that they can use in the real world and the importance of technology in our rapidly changing society. Students will have the opportunity to learn robotics, the language of coding, experiment with 3D printing, and build projects such as towers and bridges. They will create using a range of software and utilize their skills to solve problems. Technology will continue to evolve in the years to come; however, St. Peter’s students are adaptive learners, willing to embrace new technology and innovative ideas.
But the most important thing that is happening within all the STEAM classes, from Kindergarten to Year 6 is the spark of curiosity and a passion for learning. All students are engaged, willing to participate, and work with one another. They are engaged in discussions about applying knowledge and refining ideas. They are excited to learn about the amazing world God has created. And each week, they are learning to think like creative scientists and engineers, becoming the innovators and the change-makers of tomorrow.
