TITLE OF DEVELOPING PRACTICE EXAMPLE
'I wonder...What if...?': tapping into children's imagination, creativity and curiosity through STEM
built BY
Digitize Pathways in partnership with Tablet academy Scotland and Co.Lab Hub
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CONTEXT / BACKGROUND
Following self-evaluation around STEM learning at St Margaret's it was clear that many of the staff lacked confidence in these areas and there was a lack of consistency across the school in the quality of learning experiences provided for our children.
We linked up with Gayle Duffus of Education Scotland and visited another school in Ayrshire who had been developing their approaches to STEM based learning across the school.
Staff were provided with CLPL opportunities with each other and Gayle Duffus and were consulted regarding resources that they would wish to have within the school to bring this area of learning alive.
We looked at some of the 'dead' spaces in our school to create our STEM hubs for the children to explore STEM based learning that was pupil led.
WHAT WE DID
Once our spaces had been created (P1/P2 discovery zone and P3 to P7 STEM hub) we timetable opportunities for the children to attend the hubs and explore, investigate, problem solve and create.
Our Acting PT, along with keen staff and our PEF funded SFLA began to create our rationale for the hubs.
Through our parent council, we appealed to our parent body and had a number of our parents PVG checked who came in to support the learning in the hubs.
HOW WE DID IT
Lockdown has had some impact on what we hoped to achieve, however, with some creative timetabling in bubbles, our PEF funded SFLA and use of some of our allocated SFLA we have been able to have the children attend these areas again.
The taught learning takes place in the classroom. The children then attend the hubs to extend their learning, investigate, create, play, explore, problem solve and collaborate. They then feed their learning back into the classroom where they assess their progress, talk about skills developed and report on their learning.
We are now in the middle of developing our STEM experiences in our outdoor spaces and linking STEM to food technology. We also make links to the world of work but would wish to develop this further.
IMPACT / OUTCOMES
Our pupils have told us through questionnaires that they very much enjoy the hubs and would like to go there more often. Leuven scale observations give us data about our pupils confidence and engagement.
Children who struggle with literacy based or numeracy based learning are excelling and demonstrating their ability to problem solve, think creatively and cooperatively through their play and STEM learning.
NEXT:
We are now about to further develop our STEM progression and our approaches to effective joined up planning and assessment of STEM.
We are going to develop their role our our Young STEM leaders and involved our parents and families more through family learning and a parent focus group.
Stage focus
LA
Falkirk
Where?
St Margarets Primary School, Salmon Inn Road, Polmont, Falkirk FK2 0XF, UK
CONTACT PERSON
Helen Snedden
CONTACT EMAIL
Helen.snedden@falkirk.gov.uk
