STEAM Everywhere Cultivate little scientists

San Wui Commercial Society School We firmly believe that every student has different talents and can perform their best in their respective fields. Therefore, in addition to designing a comprehensive school-based curriculum, we have also actively promoted STEAM education in recent years to enhance students’ interest in science and technology and cultivate their creative thinking and problem-solving abilities. Principal Hu Lifeng keeps up with the development trends of society and leads the teaching team to promote STEAM education in different areas. The most distinctive one is to create a "STEAM Everywhere" learning atmosphere. By integrating subject content, organizing special activities, and setting up different STEAM learning corners on campus, students can develop interest in exploring things in an interesting environment and cultivate young scientists.

Comprehensive STEAM education to inspire the spirit of inquiry

Comprehensive curriculum planning is the key to effectively promoting STEAM education. The school's STEAM school-based curriculum is centered on mathematics, general knowledge and computer science, focusing on strengthening students' information literacy and interdisciplinary knowledge. Technology is developing rapidly. Students need to keep up with the times and be exposed to different high-tech technologies and learn to control technology with a positive attitude. To this end, the school develops a coherent computer science curriculum from different areas. Programming and three-dimensional graphics production are taught in the classroom, allowing students to develop creativity and problem-solving skills while mastering skills. Different high-end technology products will also be used in teaching, such as VR virtual reality, programming robots, physical programming, electronic pixel painting, MicroBit, drones, smart desk applications, etc.

Principal Hu said: "Through STEAM education, students can not only broaden their horizons and learn to make good use of innovative technologies, but also establish healthy information literacy values, so that when they enter the boundless virtual world, they can still maintain morals with positive values, use technology for positive purposes, and make good use of technology." In addition to integrating computer subjects, mathematics and general knowledge subjects also cooperate to promote STEAM. Education, practice the interdisciplinary learning model. For example, the General Studies Department has strengthened students’ learning using microscopes to explore this year. By understanding the types and methods of use of microscopes, students can explore the "another world" in the microscope. After studying, some students even try to search for relevant knowledge on their own and continue to study.

Flexible use of learning resources to promote collaborative teaching of innovation and technology

The school makes flexible use of diversified teaching and tutoring resources and actively cooperates with different tertiary institutions. This academic year, the school cooperates with the Chinese University of Hong Kong to arrange students to participate in the "ASSETE" (Assessment Scheme for Engineering and Technology Education). The activity aims to enhance students' innovative technology literacy and skills and cultivate innovative technology talents for society. In the program, students will be assessed on different skill levels of Knowledge, Practice and Innovation, collectively referred to as "KPIs". Teachers will refer to the assessment results of students' "KPI" to design the most appropriate extracurricular activities for them. Through diversified learning experiences, they can help students integrate STEAM knowledge in a relaxed and interesting way and practice it in life.

At the same time, school management can plan resources more effectively based on the data and in conjunction with the educational direction to provide the best support for students' education. In addition, the program will also allow students to understand emerging technologies such as application development, connected systems, interactive entertainment, artificial intelligence, and robots, so as to enhance students' personal skills and enable them to adapt to the development of the global digital economy in the future. Principal Wu added: "The plan will be implemented at the end of the school year. Ten computer classes in Primary 6 will be arranged for collaborative teaching with CUHK, focusing on information technology literacy, so that they can learn to use technology with correct values to face the future."

Strong innovation and technology learning atmosphere, all-round learning activities

In addition to promoting STEAM education in a diversified and multi-angle manner, schools also incorporate innovation and technology elements into activities and learning environments. In terms of learning environment, the school actively creates a "STEAM Everywhere" learning atmosphere for students by optimizing the hardware and configurations in different corners of the campus. For example, a STEAM learning corner is set up, including a programming corner, a solid corner, an engineering corner, a microscopy corner, and a hydroponic corner, etc., to break through the limitations of space on innovation and technology teaching, so that students can access more STEAM-related knowledge from the surrounding environment, stimulate their learning motivation, inspire their spirit of inquiry, and then learn to actively explore knowledge from daily life.

In addition, the school also vigorously promotes all-round learning activities and regularly holds STEAM learning days for students to give them more opportunities to be exposed to STEAM. For example, "Lego STEAM Day" for junior primary schools and "STEAM Day" for upper primary schools are designed to allow students to try to combine scientific concepts through engineering construction to make different mechanical equipment, train the growth of creative thinking, problem-solving skills, etc., and lay a solid foundation for children's future development in related fields.