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Liston’s Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (2018) encouraged me to think about STEM as more than simply teaching the four subjects separately. It highlighted the importance of integrating STEM in my classroom using opportunities for investigating real-world problems. In my classroom, I have noticed that STEM is usually most effective when my students are actively engaged in hands-on learning experiences. After reading this paper I would like to further strengthen the integration of STEM subjects in my classroom by providing more open-ended challenges.
Hi Alan, I like the idea of promoting a student-led English conversation group in partnership with a Community Centre. I think it would educate the school students while also building the refugees confidence in the language English and make them feel very welcome in the community.
There is a centre for refugees in my community. My school have been supportive of the refugees who are supported by the centre several times recently. Our school has organised fundraisers to assist them. In advance we asked them what items were mostly needed and would be appreciated. We made list of these items and set up a donation centre in our school hall. In the future we can continue to do this. We can also prepare our students to integrate with students who are currently living in the centre as it is highly likely if a place becomes available in our school it could be offered to a child who lives there. We can prepare them by teaching development lessons using picture books and by using lessons shown in this course. We can educate them about why they have come to our country and how we can make them feel welcome.
Hi Claire,
I really like your ideas. They are great ways to show how we can make a differences to big issues from our classrooms.
I feel that climate change is becoming more visible through hotter summers and heavier rainfall. This year our local park became waterlogged. This affected many local people, it affected my students as it was harder for us to access the park and to play outdoors safely there and I feel this will become a larger issue over time if action is not taken.
To explore this further with my students, I would engage them through:
1. Outdoor investigations. I would observe local weather patterns with them and record it in their project copies
2. Creative projects. I would ask them to design posters and maybe write poems about how climate change is affecting our environment
3. Class discussions and storytelling. I would read picture books to the class to help them to connect climate change issues with their own lives and encourage empathy and responsibility for them to take action.
Hi Harriett. I agree with you. It is important that we encourage students to take action and show responsibility.
Hi Vera, I agree with you. A school garden is such a good way for students to learn experience how easy to grow their own fruit and vegetables and hopefully continue it at home.
For this I chose the topic of water (SDG6).
SDG 6 = aims to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for all. It is essential for life, but millions of children around the world are affected by water scarcity, poor sanitation, and contaminated water sources.
When this topic comes to mind I usually think of it initially at a Global level as I level clean sanitation affects more children globally than locally. For example children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are often affected as they have to walk long distances to fetch water. This keeps them out of school and limits their opportunities to learn and grow and unsafe water causes diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid.
Although I initially think of this SDG at a global level it does also affect children at a local level. For example, water shortages due to climate change can affect homes as well as agriculture which can follow on to leading to higher food prices and nutritional issues for children in low-income families.Hi Agnes, I agree with you. Gender stereotypes can really affect children at a young age and without us teaching about it, it can continue to be normalised and lead to students been affected in how they see themselves in society as they get older.
I have a recent example of gender stereotypes from my classroom. I observed a situation during free playtime in my class when a girl, was playing with the building blocks and a boy approached her and told her that she couldn’t play with the blocks because blocks are for boys. I thought the situation would solve between them but eventually I had to step in.
Reflecting on this I see how important development education is to help educators with methodologies in addressing biases. Through development education we can learn strategies and skills to address such situations. We also learn about resources and workplans for incorporating development education. It is really important in my opinion to do this from a young age. Ultimately, by integrating development education into our daily teaching practices we can significantly empower our students to explore their identities freely, without the constraints imposed by harmful gender stereotypesGreat ideas Aideen, thanks for sharing them.. I also like to integrate Development Education across the curriculum .English offers an abundance of ways to develop skills and understanding in Develop Education. I like to use books that focus on Development Education topics. I find they can often be the start to great debates and discussions in the classroom. SPHE is also another subject that I find I use for teaching a lot of Development Education topics and it really ties into the strand of the curriculum. SESE can also offer many opportunities for development education. There are really so many subjects where it can integrate. However I hadn’t thought of encouraging Development Education through an organisation or a school fundraiser supporting a community initiative overseas. That’s a really good idea. I think that this would develop so much learning while also giving the students an opportunity to really understand the impact.
I agree with the opening of this piece that makes reference to the fact that among the positives in our world we have so many negatves in our world such as poverty, hunger, inequality and political instability. That author makes it clear that they want change and urgenty. The refenece she makes to us as being humans in a global family, shows how interconnected we really are. This really struck me as there are so many injustices within this global family right now, that it just does not seem one bit okay. She speaks of education as a way to begin to battle against this. Im an educator so I see this as a huge way I can help. Teaching development education is important to me and this paper has reaffirmed why it is important to me. Teaching fairness and equality is important for our youth. I want my students to understand how to be a cizizen in this world that acts in a way for the better good of those around them. I will share this with my colleagues by explaining what I learned on this course in a staff meeting.
