Gather knowledge. ability. Attitude STREAM education nurtures outstanding leaders of the future

CUHK FAA Thomas Cheung Secondary SchoolWe implement the spirit of the school motto of "Bowen and Courtesy" and are committed to promoting STREAM education and cultivating students' comprehensive problem-solving abilities. Principal Leung Kwok HoWorks with the teaching team to design a comprehensive and systematic curriculum, integrating the STREAM concept into different subjects, increasing classroom interest through cross-disciplinary collaboration, and carefully cultivating students' scientific, technological, mathematical and physical skills. "Since the implementation of STREAM education, the changes in students and the praise from the outside world have convinced us of the significance and effectiveness of STREAM education. It is not only a problem-solving ability, but also a way of thinking, allowing the new generation to face the world, broaden their horizons, increase students' competitiveness in society, and move towards a better future." Principal Leung Kwok Ho said with a smile.

The supporting professionalism of teachers is in place and the implementation results are obvious to all.

"Teachers teach carefully and follow the guidance to inspire students and let students shine." This is the management belief that Principal Leung Kwok Ho adheres to, so he attaches great importance to the professionalism and teaching quality of the teaching team. Nearly half of the teachers in the school have master's degrees, each with their own expertise and rich teaching experience. "The school has been keeping up with new trends in education, encouraging teachers to continue their studies, increasing teaching leadership training, and setting up joint lesson preparation sessions to promote teaching exchanges. As for STEAM education, our teachers have participated in the "A.I. & STEM Program" organized by the "Big Education Platform", and teachers and students have gone to City University of Hong Kong to participate in STEM training. In addition, many teachers have participated in the "IN-STEM School-based Support Program" organized by the University of Hong Kong to understand the future development of STEM education."

The school also makes good use of hardware facilities and prudently purchases technological equipment that meets teaching needs. As the STEAM coordinating teacher, Assistant Principal Zheng Lishun pointed out that STEAM education aims to allow students to understand how to apply science and technology to humanistic care and solve the difficulties and problems encountered in daily life. Therefore, when purchasing supporting packages, schools need to understand the actual needs of students and should not adopt the idea of ​​​​"everyone has what I have". "Before each purchase of equipment and accessories, the team will seek professional advice and make purchases based on the needs of the course from the perspective of students. This year we have purchased 40 computers with high-end graphics cards for the "Multimedia Computer Laboratory", which has greatly improved the teaching effectiveness and made the implementation of "Metaverse", programming, AI and other courses smoother and more effective."

One-stop programming courses to train tomorrow’s engineers

Principal Leung Kwok Ho said: "The school attaches great importance to school-based curriculum content. When designing STEAM courses, the teaching team and I hope to go deep into the classroom from an academic perspective and emphasize the concept of "realization in the classroom" to ensure that the course content and teaching process reach an in-depth and comprehensive application level so that students can apply what they have learned. In order to strengthen students' logical thinking, the teaching team has added programming teaching to junior high school computer courses to facilitate students to connect to high school information and communication technology courses, so that they can gradually integrate into the world of programming."

In the junior high school computer course, the school will select ten students at the secondary level who are interested in programming to study "Swift Playgrounds" at the City University of Hong Kong. After they are successful in their studies, they will serve as primary teachers to give back to the entire school. In order to make the course more interesting, 3D printing will also be added to the Secondary One curriculum to allow students to experience the satisfaction of materializing design results. When they reach Secondary Two, teachers will add programming learning such as "JavaScript" and "Arduino" to the original programming to allow students to understand the characteristics of different programming languages. When they reach Secondary Three, students will advance to learn to write simple "Python" and add AI learning kits to try to become a "little inventor". "Through systematic curriculum arrangement, students can master certain programming knowledge. In the future, the school will closely follow the teaching scope and introduce 'Neural Network'. By further understanding artificial neurons (neurons), students will understand the principles of artificial intelligence and be equipped with the confidence to apply technology." Assistant Principal Zheng added.

Opening up cross-disciplinary collaboration and dual-track liberal arts and sciences

STEAM education attaches great importance to strengthening students' ability to comprehensively apply knowledge from various subjects. Therefore, the school is committed to promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration between different subject groups, integrating STEAM learning into different subjects, and establishing a broad view of knowledge for students. Teacher Kai Cheng of the Geography Department is a member of the STEAM team. She said with a smile that the school has developed STEM education into STEAM education in recent years, which has greatly broken down the barriers between arts and sciences and has been very effective in promoting independent learning. "In recent years, the geography subject has combined drone technology with geology course teaching. Students can overlook the sea and mountains of Hong Kong through drones and take photos of different landforms. In the process, students are exposed to different technological learning tools and build real knowledge experiences. Compared with the past, students learned about volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks and reservoirs from photos in textbooks, which is more profound and interesting."

Through cooperation in different subjects, the school streamlines the transfer of knowledge, enhances students' interest in STEAM, and even draws on the strengths of each subject to assist teachers in designing novel and interesting teaching methods. For example, the Information and Communications Technology Department and the Computer Department jointly participated in the HKU school-based support program - STEAM Plastic Recycling, connecting technological elements at the educational level, using micro:bit technology to identify recycling marks on plastic waste to facilitate the identification of the value of different plastics. The students' outstanding designs won the Learning Design Award (Engineering Design) and the Best Learning Design Platform Application Award. In this regard, Principal Leung Kwok Ho is happy to see the school transition from STEM education to STEAM education. He also foresees that the school can add the "Reading" element in the future and develop it into "STREAM Education", allowing students to build language interpretation skills at the same time, use language skills such as reading and writing to write comprehensive reports for scientific and technological innovations, learn how to report fluently, and equip themselves with the necessary equipment for tomorrow.

Enter art and culture and set up a "leadership training program"

STEAM education has a wide scope. The teaching team believes that STEAM education can provide students with an immersive learning experience compared with traditional teaching methods. Therefore, the school deliberately introduces the STEAM learning process into cultural arts and interest groups to allow students to experience the influence of science and technology. For example, in the visual arts subject, multimedia creation elements are introduced, and teachers will teach students to use tablet computers in the course and learn to use the "Procreate" software to draw electronic works; while music subject teachers will also use tablet computers to create music with students and analyze the creative logic and characteristics of different music. "This year the school successfully invited artists to the school to make personal guitars with students. Coupled with the cooperation of tablet computers and other equipment, the activity was very popular among students. In the process, students also learned about music technology and gained a more comprehensive and rich learning experience." Principal Leung Kwok Ho said.

In order to popularize and develop more diversified STEAM education, the school launched the "Innovation and Technology Leaders Training Program" in junior high schools, allowing students to learn different STEAM units according to their interests during holidays, such as "Underwater Robots", "AI Object Classification", "E Symphony Orchestra", "iPad Procreate Painting", "DIY" "Drones", "Fighting Cars", "Circuit Learning" and "Origami and Mathematics", etc., lay a foundation for junior high school students to learn innovation and technology, and at the same time discover outstanding talents in the school.

Professional exchanges: Going to the UK and France to show results

With excellent curriculum arrangements and collaborative teaching, students have distinguished themselves in major innovation and technology competitions. Despite the epidemic, students were still successfully shortlisted for the "25th Hong Kong Youth Technology Innovation Competition" and competed for multiple awards. In addition, some students won the group championship in the "Mecha Master 2022 Youth Competition (Hong Kong Station)" and ranked among the top 8 in Hong Kong. They also won the "Outstanding Young Engineer" award. Assistant Principal Zheng Lishun said, "Programming technology has been widely used in different fields. For example, music subjects have added STEM elements, and students can use computer programs to compose music and form electronic symphony orchestras. Therefore, as STEM develops into STEAM and even 'STREAM', traditional liberal arts students can also participate in innovation and technology activities, and everyone can find a place on the innovation and technology road." At the same time, 6 students were also invited to participate in STEAM this year. Teacher Li Jianlang of the British-French exchange group said that during the exchange, the invited students integrated the three systems of micro:bit, robomaster host and Fischertechnik to create an "airport guard" robot to repel birds and avoid high-altitude accidents during flights. The outstanding inventions of the students were highly praised by foreign experts, and the principles and motivations of the inventions were explained to industry insiders at the exhibition. "Therefore, STREAM education is not only a teaching method, but also provides opportunities for professional exchanges, allowing students to 'make friends with STREAM', broadening the horizon of learning from Yuen Long to Tin Shui Wai, and providing good opportunities for children to face the world and build confidence." Principal Leung Kwok Ho concluded.