What further steps might you take towards a STEM focused SSE?
I decided to think about how the teaching and learning of STEM could be improved in our school. I tried to think of ways to enhance teaching and learning while elevating the status of STEM in our school.
After an examination of STEM practice in the school by gathering and analysing evidence including teacher reflections, teachers’ and children’s views and ideas and children’s work samples/portfolios, we can get a better picture of where our children and teachers are at in terms of STEM and science skills in particular.
Are children able to apply their science skills to new scenarios? And what is their disposition towards STEM subjects?
I can think of several ideas that could be implemented to enhance the status of STEM in our school among teachers and students.
An initial stocktake to ascertain the availability of resources would be useful. Identifying the skills, qualifications, confidence, and disposition of teachers is also a useful step. This could involve conducting surveys, reviewing educational materials, and observing classroom activities. Additionally, seeking input from stakeholders such as parents and students could provide valuable perspectives on areas for improvement.
Having established what we are doing well and identifying areas for improvement we could initiate plans. Ideas like ‘Science Week’ or ‘Space Week’ could be implemented across the whole school and the establishment of a STEM Club or maybe an Astronomy or Space Club could enhance the status of STEM in the school. We could utilise these fora as a space for conducting informal and fun inquiry-based learning. We could maybe, introduce ‘Question of the Week’ to stimulate inquiry-based learning. Children and teachers could conduct investigations and ponder questions. We could make use of the tools and resources identified in our stocktake, not least the resources found in the downloads from this course. Implementing these initiatives would help to support our SSE target of better whole-school integration across the STEM subjects.