Innovation Day with STEAM Lead, Mr. Rowntree

We celebrated Innovation Day on the 16th of February with our STEAM Lead, Mr. Rowntree. Classroom activities associated with this celebration linked in with our annual STEAM challenge topic, namely 'Life'.

Why do we celebrate Innovation Day?

At Compass International School we continuously celebrate creativity, critical thinking skills and innovative ideas. Combining our unique approach to learning with our STEAM activities is an essential element of the learning experience.

Through our world-leading collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), we help to nurture our students’ curiosity and guide them with our forward-thinking approach to learning. Equipped with our state-of-the-art school facilities, our students are empowered to take on any challenge.

What is Innovation Day?

Innovation day is a day that is designed to recognise how important new knowledge is in the development of the world. For example, when we reflect on innovation and its impact on everyday life, we realise how innovative ideas, new products, or a new service helped to advance modern technology.

Now with new, life-changing innovations coming every day, it is important that our students have the tools, mindset, and adaptability to continue this innovation as they learn and grow.

In this year’s Innovation Day, students took on Dr. Yukiko Yamashita’s STEAM challenge. Dr. Yamashita is a biologist working at the world-renowned university MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Yamashita challenged students to think about how our bodies start out as one cell with one set of instructions and end up as trillions of cells, including hundreds of different specialized types of cells. How is this possible? Why are we complex multicellular organisms and not just a bucket of the same kind of cell?  

Using the same 3 materials or ingredients students looked at what they could make! With the same basic materials, student creations were very different, just like cell specialisation. Students were able to test their creativity, explore different possibilities and truly be innovative.

 Celebrate with us and put your skills to the test!

With only flour, salt and oil what can you make? How innovative can you be? You are allowed to add heat and water.

Good luck and don’t forget to share your results with us on our Instagram or Facebook page.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Rowntree