STEAM x whole-person development to enhance students’ international vision and language skills

CUHK FAA Thomas Cheung Secondary School attaches great importance to the development of students in STEAM as one of the strategies to develop students’ holistic education. In order to cultivate students' interest in learning innovation and technology, the school adopts the teaching model of the "Three-tier Structure of Gifted Education". Through different aspects of innovation and technology education, students can improve their academic abilities, increase their social competitiveness, and learn to meet the challenges of the 21st century with perseverance and become innovative talents. Principal Leung Kwok Ho believes that all students who come to Zhangzhong to study are like children of the school. The teaching team uses STEAM education to accompany and educate the children's growth and inspire their potential development.

Diversified interdisciplinary learning enriches learning experience

In order to popularize STEAM education, the school introduces innovative technologies and carries out interdisciplinary practices to enrich students' STEAM learning experience and interest. For example, we collaborated with the University of Hong Kong last year to arrange cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Integrated Science Department and the Computer Department to use artificial intelligence to classify plastics. This is not only the integration of knowledge, but also humanistic care for society; the Visual Arts Department collaborated with the Computer Department to produce visual art works such as mechanical flowers; the Geography Department will use drones to conduct terrain exploration and photography; the Music Department also added iPads Elements have become an "electronic symphony orchestra", which is used to teach students to compose and arrange music; electronic equipment has also been incorporated into physical education teaching to collect students' physical data and allow students to better understand their physical conditions. In addition, the school also organizes the "Sports Interdisciplinary Collaboration Project", which aims to promote sports, enhance students' physical fitness, and cultivate their perseverance, sense of responsibility, unity and other spirits.

Diversified interdisciplinary programs help students apply knowledge from different disciplines, build creative thinking, logical thinking, and problem-solving abilities, while also understanding the application of emerging technologies. The school keeps pace with the times and provides students with diversified STEAM support. For example, it has an "AI Robotics Lab" equipped with 40 computers with high-efficiency computing, giving students an advantage when learning topics such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence. Next year, the school plans to use artificial intelligence to combine the development of various subjects, especially foreign language learning and programming education, to cultivate students to become entrepreneurial makers.

Launched the "Innovation and Technology Leadership Training Program" and established a dedicated R&D team

In addition to comprehensive and up-to-date curriculum design, the school has also launched an "Innovation and Technology Leadership Training Program" outside the classroom, providing secondary one and two students with a variety of STEAM courses taught by school teachers. Assistant Principal Zheng Lishun said: "The school requires every teacher to have their own "nirvana" and personally teach different STEAM-related knowledge and skills through the "Innovation and Technology Leaders Training Program" to help students further develop their independent learning and problem-solving abilities."

At the same time, the school has established various special research and development teams to teach students to design inventions and give back to society. These include: "Minecraft Competitive Game Design Team", which designs games for primary school students and community members to play; "Metaverse Software Development Team", which collaborates with the School of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong to design Metaverse models to promote immersive community health education; "Internet of Things R&D Team", which uses big data and IoT products to respond to senior health-related topics; "Artificial Intelligence Robot Team", which uses ready-made learning kits to create original artificial intelligence robots, such as Urban, in response to issues of sustainable community development. Vanguard; "The Team for the Manned Solar Vehicle Project" cooperates with IVE to promote new energy applications and allow students to try to build solar electric vehicles from scratch.

Focus on top-notch after-school training to broaden the horizons of innovation and technology learning

In order to help students further develop their potential in innovation and technology and provide different platforms for performance, the school actively arranges for top students to participate in local and overseas competitions, exchanges and exhibitions. For example, participating in the Bett Show UK exhibition in the UK and giving a lecture on "Empowering Students through STEM" at the Bett AsiaThai Leadership Summit allow students to further broaden their horizons. In the future, the school also plans to discuss with overseas education researchers the exhibition plans and sharing themes in Malaysia in October this year and Bett Asia and Bett UK in January next year. It also plans to participate in a robot competition hosted by a Korean organization in October this year. Using a diversified model, students can have a richer learning experience in STEAM learning and learn more knowledge in the STEAM field.

The team strives for excellence and its capabilities are highly recognized

The professional capabilities of the teaching team are the key to promoting STEAM education. The school has set up a "STEAM Development Group" to cooperate with different universities to provide support for teacher training. For example, teachers are arranged to go to city universities to participate in different training courses to learn about the latest technological developments and apply them in teaching. Last year, the school participated in the In-STEM program of the University of Hong Kong, allowing the teaching team to learn new educational frameworks and interdisciplinary curriculum design. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni Association also provides teachers with a variety of STEAM lectures. Through cooperation with the university, teachers can have a deeper understanding of teaching techniques, STEAM education, etc.

The school's STEAM team has been highly recognized for its abilities. Not only has it been invited to publicly share its educational experience many times, it has also won numerous awards. Some teachers won the Teaching Achievement (Artificial Intelligence) Award and the Most Popular (Artificial Intelligence Course) Teacher Award. Assistant Principal Zheng also won the "Outstanding IT Teacher Award" from the Hong Kong Computer Education Association. At the same time, the school also won the "STEM Learning Design Award" and "Best Electronic Teaching Platform Application Award" in the In STEM program of the University of Hong Kong; as well as the SDL-STEAM Learning Design Award.

STEAM school team’s record is shining, outstanding seniors impart valuable experience

With excellent educational strategies, the school’s STEAM team has performed well in different competitions and won many awards. For example, the RoboMaster Robot Masters Competition 2022 Outstanding Young Engineer Award, the 2023 Greater Bay Area Student Technology Competition Most Potential Award, and the 2022-2023 Global Invention Conference China Junior High School and High School Bronze Award. The students also won the second prize in the research and invention group of the high school group of the 26th Hong Kong Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition, and represented Hong Kong in the competition for the National Soong Ching Ling Children's Invention Award. In addition, the seniors of the STEAM school team will also pass on their experience to younger generations through the "Innovation and Technology Leadership Training Program" to build a talent pool belonging to the school.

Learn to make good use of innovative technologies and build critical thinking skills

The school has always been with students, accompanying them in their growth and teaching them humanistic values. Therefore, in the creative process of students, in addition to making full use of subject knowledge, they must also search for information from the Internet. Teachers will guide students to identify the correct information, select necessary materials, and build critical thinking skills. Teacher Li Jianlang, leader of the STEAM development team, pointed out: "Artificial intelligence does not understand 'morality', and if misused, it will cause great harm to human beings. The school hopes that students can use artificial intelligence correctly. For example, the multiple-award-winning Vanguard system was originally used to drive away birds, but has now been upgraded to Urban Vanguard to solve the nuisance of birds in the community. During the learning process, we must teach students morals and educate them on the principles of harmonious coexistence with nature."