Teach Middle East Magazine Jan-Feb 2019 Issue 3 Volume 6 | Page 20

CALLERO PLUS TROLLEYS FOR STEAM LEARNING I n STEAM subjects, investigation and experimentation are an important part of learning, building confidence and inquisitiveness. Practical experience is already proven to have greater learning outcomes and better retention amongst students than structured teaching and lecture models, bringing the theoretical to life. Activities on the STEAM spectrum offer a broad range of opportunities for the widest range of students, with all benefiting from the opportunity to explore new activities and express their manual dexterity at many different levels of competence. Activities are particularly beneficial for those choosing a more practical career path and support a move into apprenticeships, as well as supporting higher level research and development and highly academic and technical careers. These can be typified by a range of activities and skill sets from the practical and construction based, to the academic and theoretical, suiting a mix of students. Students get to work in a mixed skill group, each providing a positive contribution and activities can be stretched and developed to reach greater heights, pushing the students to explore new limits. Teaching and learning through STEAM activities can take many formats, but all serve as a gathering point for tools, projects, mentors, and expertise. Activities can be personalised to any project that involves group collaboration - from coding and robotics to woodworking and art projects to science and engineering experiments. Highlighting how STEAM is becoming more popular, a recent Maker Faire event in Kuwait attracted 35,000 visitors. It presented STEAM subjects and skills to thousands of children in a way they actually enjoy and can enthuse and evangelise about. Now firmly established as the storage system of choice for many school science labs and preprooms, the Callero Plus range of trolleys is fast becoming an essential feature in STEAM teaching and learning. Working as an integrated storage system, Callero Plus provides flexibility, functionality and security for the storage of intricate and often valuable components in STEAM and STEM clubs and maker spaces. In the school environment, Gratnells believes the goal of a maker space or STEAM club is to empower students to