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Children at Sts Peter and Paul Primary School, Garran, have embraced the new and exciting world of STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Once thought of as being nerdy, boring subjects the children have rapidly changed their thinking and are now happily exclaiming, “We didn’t know Science could be so much fun and useful too!”
The children were introduced to STEM through an interactive incursion, ‘Crime Stoppers’. They were required to assess the crime scene and use forensic science to solve the theft. Litmus paper, finger print powder, magnifying glasses and number clues all assisted in the children fingering the criminal.
STEM isn’t just the one off exciting learning experience though. It is becoming embedded in all curricula areas as it encourages all children to rethink problems and reconsider their approach to solving open-ended questions.
Stage 3 children are teambuilding problem solving Maths Olympiad style questions to assist their higher-order thinking skills. The ability to work on these complex problems then allows them to look at other questions using similar strategies. Coding is also being undertaken every day by these students who are required to assess what they want the computer program to do and write a code to make it happen.
Raspberry Pi anyone? Stage 2 children are using these microcomputers to begin programming tasks. With the assistance of two of our parents who themselves are programming engineers, the children will learn to use PYTHON programming language to manipulating this technology to engineer simple computer games. They have also been able to use Lego Technics and Bee Bots to assist them to realise that things aren’t always as complicated as they first seem.
Parent engagement has also been welcomed by our school. The launch, two sessions held over the course of an evening and morning, allowed parents to work with their children to design straw bridges, play with the technology on hand and relish the challenges that STEM offers the students at Sts Peter and Paul Primary.
STEM encourages all children to challenge themselves and think outside the box. What an exciting way to invigorate children about these four facets of Innovation.