So what exactly is STEAM? At Nord Anglia Education we have an ongoing vision for STEAM Education through which we aim to develop skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM). This is done through providing students with integrated projects which demand them to utilise and extend their understanding of all these subjects, along with developing essential skills in creativity and collaboration to design and build a product. We believe these skills are increasingly important in preparing our students for the world that lies ahead.
STEAM at DCIS is seen in many different forms. It may be integrated within lessons, such as the KS3 Floating Farm project of term 1. It drives the termly MIT challenges, seen this term with Primary school and year 9 creating wearable technology linked to the MIT superheroes theme. Most recently we have seen STEAM in action at the NAE STEAM festival in Cambodia.
9 students travelled to Phnom Penh on Wednesday 3rd October to work alongside students from 10 other Nord Anglia Education schools from across South East Asia. Over 100 students were tasked with completing the “NAE-MIT Major STEAM Challenge” which demanded excellent collaboration, creativity and ingenuity to succeed. Along the way they participated in various workshops focusing on new techniques and mini challenges to test their new skills.
Some of the products made included a proximity censored alarm system installed into a superhero outfit, a mechanical spinning axe and tightly sprung exoskeleton legs for jumping long distances.
All in all, the emerging STEAM program at DCIS offers lots of exciting opportunities for students to delve deeper into new technologies and experience how science, maths and design come together to do truly amazing things.
John Northridge
Design Technology teacher