STANSW Science Education News Journal 2019 2019 SEN Vol 68 Issue 4 | Page 31

ARTICLES Teaching and learning STEM in context at Belrose Public School (continued) A key feature of the book is the use of language specific to science, society and future scenarios, as well as the subjective style of the narrator (Hodkinson, 2017). Students were guided through a variety of tasks to become familiar with the elements of the narrative text. STEM components and syllabus integration The project was systematically planned and programmed to ensure outcomes from different key learning areas of the curriculum were addressed in authentic ways. The following table outlines elements of the project that align with both STEM and other key learning areas. Key learning Unit components area Science Living world – animal adaptations, habitats, environments meet organism needs. Physical world – forces & energy in products and systems. Chemical world – properties of materials for design purposes. Technology Design Design and production – design and construct model Mechanica-style animals. Little Bits – electric circuits to make animal model parts move. Technology - Digital Design interface for digital system; plan and implement digital solution using visual programming. Hummingbird Robotics and Arudino to control movement of animal model parts, incorporating Little Bits motors, servos and sensors. Use of ICT See-saw used to document the learning process and assessment. Google classroom to communicate with Year 9 students who used photoshop software to develop an image of Mechanica-style animals from the students’ text descriptions. Engineering Standford-Design Model scaffolded the engineering design process. Mathematics Multiple aspects in design of the models, and also the floor plan for the museum of unnatural history. English Writing a specific text genre; the purpose was to describe in the style of a field guide entry, whilst fitting the imaginary world of Mechanica Creative Arts Drama sessions involved the students understanding movements associated with living creatures, and applying this knowledge to their designs. The physical movements of the animals they were going to create were acted out. Geography Museums / libraries around the world were researched as a background for the culminating display. Aboriginal people Parts of the Dark Emu book were used as a way of describing to students what Aboriginal people invented 1000’s of years ago e.g. labour-saving fish trap Library Students researched the journey made by Charles Darwin A specific example of use of ICT involved students creating a News report employing Green Screen technology (Figure 2) as part of the Museum theme. Fig.2 – News report – Green Screen technology STEM integration can be described as an inclined plane from: the lowest disciplinary level, each subject is taught in discrete learning areas (LAs); to multidisciplinary, a common theme connects learning across different LAs; to interdisciplinary, the curriculum is organised around common learning goals across LAs; to a final transdisciplinary level, application of knowledge and skills to solve real world problems (Vasquez, 2015). The Mechanica project is a good example of an interdisciplinary level project evidenced by the interconnectedness between learning areas where the subject boundaries became blurred. 31 SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 68 NO 4