STEAM
STEAM is an inquiry approach that integrates the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts and Mathematics.
STEAM at Cheltenham Primary School is a problem-based learning (PBL) approach that engages students in rich and authentic learning experiences.
In a PBL environment, students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to an engaging question, problem or challenge.
A PBL learning and teaching framework addresses cross-curricula content and learning through rigorous, authentic, hands-on, interactive learning experiences.
Students face complex challenges in a 21st Century where problem-solving, collaboration and creativity will be highly valued in the workplace and community.
Key reasons for using implementing STEAM in the classroom include:
- Engages students in their personal learning journey.
- Offers students an opportunity to build confidence, solve problems, work in teams, communicate ideas, and manage themselves more effectively.
- Encourages students to use technology in authentic ways.
- Connects students and schools with communities locally and globally and develops a sense of sustainability.
This approach to learning is certainly not an easy task, but the benefits to students and the entire school community are tremendous. Students and teachers engaged in STEAM make more real-life connections so that school is not a place where you go to learn but instead becomes the entire experience of learning itself. We are always learning, always growing, always experimenting.
STEAM in Junior School
STEAM is our school’s framework that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
Students are encouraged to take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process.
In the Junior School the students’ learning is scaffolded through a clearly delineated process of investigating, visualising, creating, generating and evaluating.
Our Inquiry topics each term incorporate the STEAM approach.
Recent examples have been creating a structurally sound bridge with an arch, an eco-friendly house made from recycled materials, a floating stable boat and a class local community. Students work collaboratively incorporating the use of ICT such as coding Blue Bots and videoing using the app I Stop Motion, and are encouraged to share their learning with their peers.
STEAM in Middle School
What does STEAM look like in the Middle School?
In the Middle School we shift from project based learning to problem based learning. This means our new direction of problem based learning scaffolds units of inquiry around solving problems that matter. Our students need real life, authentic problems to solve.
The following are some of the defining characteristics of Problem Based Learning
- Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems with no one “right” answer or defined solution
- Students work as self-directed, active investigators and problem-solvers in small collaborative groups (typically of about five students)
- A key problem is identified and a solution is agreed upon and implemented
- Teachers adopt the role as facilitators of learning, guiding the learning process and promoting an environment of inquiry
The Benefits Of Problem-Based Learning through our STEAM approach
Problem-based learning constitutes a method with a wide range of benefits. Some of them are:
- Learners have the opportunity to fully examine and investigate a problem and use their own personal experiences and investigations to find the solution
- Problem-based learning encourages teamwork, improves the communication skills of the learners
- Learners learn how to develop their people skills, but also to effectively defend their position and the important skills of negotiation and compromise
- Learners discover what they need to know – something that improves their self-directed learning skills.
So what does this look like in practice here in the Middle School at CPS?
An example of a recent unit of inquiry:
As you would know, Cheltenham train station has recently undergone significant changes. As part of the recent transformation, the traffic lights directly in front of the school entrance were going to be moved. Traffic flow would change. We asked students to consider how that would impact nearby Park Rd? This was an opportunity for engaging our students in investigating and deciding where they would determine to be the best location to relocate the traffic lights to best meet the needs of our school community.
From this our STEAM Traffic Lights unit was born!
STEAM in Senior School
By the time students reach the Senior School, they are presented with problems which they must work collaboratively to solve in an agreed upon way. Students work with their team to interrogate the problem, explore and discuss possible solutions, agree to a plan, and design, source materials for, and create their own answer to the problem.
The aim of STEAM in the Senior School is to encourage students to:
- think outside the box
- feel safe to express innovative and creative ideas
- feel comfortable doing hands-on learning
- take ownership over their learning
- work collaboratively with others
- understand the ways that science, maths, the arts, and technology work together
- become increasingly curious about the world around them and feel empowered to change it for the better
An example of this is:
- In a history unit on the Gold Rush, students explored the varying approaches to gold extraction in 1850s Melbourne, including the physical toll and environmental impact of these methods.
- Students were challenged to develop their own ‘21st Century’ solution to these methods, which decreased environmental impact and physical exertion, and increased efficiency.
- Students worked collaboratively to combine ideas, which integrated elements of original gold extraction tools, with consideration to 21st Century standards.
- Students used 3D nets of shapes to create a scaled prototype of their tool.
- They investigated the scientific properties of different materials to determine what they would need to create the final version of their gold-extraction tool.
- Students worked together to build their tool, using their knowledge of scientific forces and simple machines to integrate at least one moving part into their design.
- Students created a digital portfolio of the process, as well as their personal and collaborative reflections.
- They integrated literacy skills and art elements to write and create a persuasive advertisement for their tool, including the real-world costs for producing their tool on a life-size scale.
