Key Steps – STEAM @ OSS

We have had a high degree of interest lately regarding our school’s STEAM journey and, in particular, the  key actions/documents that have marked each stage. Profiled below is many of them, in the order that they were created or occurred.


A school vision, collaboratively designed with our community.

An extra-curricular program which evolved from a community ‘think-tank’.  Our partners within this program remain a key factor to the ongoing success of this program which is now in its fourth year.

Digital Solutions units which were collaboratively designed for each year level such that there was an authentic context.  This authentic context resulted from a connection with at least one other curriculum area.

A vision for STEAM, designed collaboratively with our community.

A school design process to support inquiry and design – this evolved from our work with practitioner inquiry, student inquiry and curriculum inquiry in which a model of design thinking was used.

A matrix to articulate what teachers and students should do at each stage of the process.

A whole of community STEAM event to enable our students to share their thinking and learning.

STEAM inquiry units designed collaboratively and taught and assessed by classroom teachers – 1 per year level in 2018.

An app was a key part of the STEAM event, enabling attendees to read about units of inquiry.

Activities were profiled to support different stages of the cycle.

The process of designing STEAM inquiry units was mapped and shared for all to follow and discuss.  In 2019, two units of STEAM are planned and taught and assessed in each year level. The whole of the Technologies Curriculum will be taught and assessed by classroom teachers by end of 2020.

Units were planned and formed around a ‘generative’ question to guide the inquiry.

Digital scaffolds were made for some units to support the thinking.

 

Unit overviews are created during planning sessions placing a generative question at the centre of the unit.