ARTICLES
Teaching and learning STEM in context at Belrose Public School (continued)
Teacher perspectives
One of the teachers was initially reluctant to be involved in the
project, but became an advocate for STEM due to the impact
of the multi-disciplinary approach for students. The project
improved student attention and engagement in class, and one
child’s frequent absenteeism was reduced. Although there were
tears from frustration at times, the students worked through it, and
the resultant pride in their work was obvious. Overall the students
‘loved it’ and their involvement in the project has changed the
classroom ethos.
Student engagement and perceptions
The students were highly motivated and engaged throughout the
Mechanica project. Interviews following the project revealed that
several students particularly enjoyed the experience of creating
a Mechanica organism as they were able to “work through the
problems” and produce “something we could be proud of”. Not
only did the team aspect of the project allow students to feel
supported as they faced design challenges, each STEM lesson
was full of positive discussion and laughter. Many students
also commented that they looked forward to STEM time every
week because of the creative hands-on activities. Overall the
Mechanica project was engaging for students because it was a
collaborative, creative and hands-on experience.
Fig.9 – excerpt from student letter of invitation to the showcase
event
How the project was made possible
A first step towards successful implementation of STEM was that
it was incorporated into the school plan. We (teachers) were then
committed to make it happen. Being accepted into the STEM
Academy was “absolutely fantastic, we knew we would get the
support needed” to develop something really worthwhile for the
students. The STEM Academy gave us the access to a very
limited resource – time away from the distraction of everyday
occurrences at school. This time was productively used to plan,
locate and acquire resources and create the groundwork that
afforded fluidity in learning which was required to make the
project a success. The plan that was created was flexible enough
to extend the original timeframe and incorporate the time needed
to create the Museum of Unnatural History as an option for the
project showcase. The STEM Academy staff were available for us
to use as a sounding board to reflect upon the more outlandish
ideas proposed and rejected in the end.
For teachers the most rewarding part of the project was the
impact on the students. They became highly motivated towards
learning across the curriculum as many aspects of their classes
were linked by the Mechanica theme. The following comments
provide an indication of students’ perspectives of the project.
• “Creative, got to try out new things!”
• “The project was a good experience, it was amazing!”
• “I now want to be an engineer or a scientist; before it wasn’t
in my thoughts, but now I am thinking that might be a good
choice.”
Tom Davidson was new to the school and was employed through
merit selection with the purpose of engaging the students by
introducing the paradigms of Future Focused Learning that
included STEM integration. This project was primarily aimed
to allow the current staff to experience what is possible in the
integration of STEM in the classroom. Secondly, the project was
used to enhance the staff’s pedagogical abilities in integrating
English, Science and Maths Syllabuses through effective use of
ICT and integration of digital technologies. The next project will
endeavour to build on the ideals of design thinking to include
computational thinking, scientific thinking and further systems
thinking.
• “It started off different to what it ended.”
The excerpt from one of the student letters of invitation to the
showcase (figure 9) captures the students’ positivity about the
project.
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 68 NO 4