Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 12

Advertorial
HOW A TEACHER TRANSFORMED
A CLASSROOM USING STEAM
BY: YASMEEN BADAWI
well as experiencing the connection
between multiple subjects on their
curriculum, takes students out of the
confines of the classroom and gives
much needed context to their learning,
A
t Dubai National School
(DNS),
an
international
school that teaches kids
from Kindergarten to High
School, teachers are on a mission to
bring to life Mathematics and Science
curricula. Using innovative, creative
lesson plans that are both exciting
and engaging to students, teachers at
DNS are instilling advanced learning
practices that nurture their skills and
values, to allow them to thrive in their
future careers. Through the use of SAM
Space and SAM Blockly, one teacher
(Yasmeen Badawi) explains how she
and her colleagues used SAM Labs’
STEAM and Learn to Code, to connect
real life with everyday classroom
learning.
To foster creative thinking
and student innovation.
One of the challenges faced by teachers
in a traditional classroom environment
is finding a lesson plan that allows
students to approach problem-solving
challenges through methods they are
not accustomed to (Yasmeen Badawi)
from Dubai National School says,
“This is precisely what we were keen to
do at Dubai National School where we
converted many of the skills mentioned
in Mathematics and Science curricula,
and connected them to students’
real-life and transferred them into
successful experiences and projects.”
How kids approached the
challenges of each lesson
objective.
At the centre of each STEAM and Learn
to Code lesson, (Yasmeen)’s students
had to take a project-oriented, step-by-
step approach, using assessment and
teamwork to address the challenges of
the lesson objectives,
“From
defining
problems
and
finding solutions to dealing with
mixed equations and applying the
information, students learned about
technology and engineering along the
way to figure out the best solutions.”
Real-life context through
STEAM and Learn to Code
solutions in the classroom.
Demonstrating to students how their
learning fits into their everyday lives, as
“Our mission as Dubai National School
teachers was to transform students’
learning environment to be fun,
engaging and full of challenges. SAM
Space is a great technological platform
that urged our students to be creative
and innovative.”
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Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
Class Time
Impact of SAM Space in
exposing students to the
creative process.
“These
various
skills
reflected
positively on the students’ confidence,
personality and development abilities.
Overall, we found that SAM Space
is the best platform that exposed
our students to the creative process,
offering meaningful collaboration,
increased critical thinking in finding
solutions to real-life problems.”
Who are SAM Labs?
SAM Labs provides everything you need
to deliver the most engaging STEAM
and Coding learning experience in
your classroom. We give educators
the tools and support to make the
most of their lessons, making learning
interactive and engaging.