INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 3
THE DIGITAL TEACHER’S TOOLKIT (DTT)
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 3
THE DIGITAL TEACHER’S TOOLKIT (DTT)
PROJECT INFORMATION
Project acronym IN2STEAM
Project title Inspiring Next Generation of Girls through Inclusive STE(A)M Learning in Primary Education
Project reference
number 2019-1-IT02-KA201-063173 Sub-programme or
KA Erasmus+: Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships for school education Project website www.in2steam.eu
Authoring partner CESIE (Italy) Document version V2
Date of
preparation 30.07.2021
Dissemination level: restricted to other programme participants (including Commission services and project reviewers)
INDEX
1. THE DIGITAL TEACHER’S TOOLKIT 5 1.1 Introduction to the Digital Teacher’s Toolkit 5 2. LEARNING APPROACHES 7 2.1.1 Inquiry-based learning 8 2.1.2 Design Thinking 17 2.1.3 Creating Thinking and Art-based learning 20
2.1.4 Tinkering 23
3. TIPS TO ORCHESTRATE A STE(A)M CLASSROOM 29 3.1 How to set rules and expectations for learners 29 3.2 How to build an effective team 33 3.3 How to manage the space 35
3.4 How to manage the time 42
3.5 How to select and manage the materials 43 3.6 How to assess students’ skills and behaviors
(the B.A.M. model) 44
4. THE ACTIVITY KIT FOR STUDENTS 47 4.1 Introduction to the Activity KIT for students 47 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 49
1. THE DIGITAL TEACHER’S TOOLKIT
1.1 Introduction to the Digital Teacher’s Toolkit
The IN2STE(A)M Digital Teacher’s Toolkit (DTT) has been designed by the partners of “IN2STE(A)M - Inspiring Next Generation of Girls through Inclusive STE(A)M Learning in Primary Education” project to be a practical and valuable instrument, with the aim to provide primary school teachers with creative ICT and real-life application examples of STE(A)M to improve student learning outcomes and to foster girls’ interest in STE(A)M from an early age.
The DTT includes a collection of learning approaches that have been successfully tested at European level by the project Consortium in Italy, Portugal, Poland, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, during the IN2STE(A) M “IO2 -Training Curriculum in STE(A)M learning and gender sensitive practices” in the school year 2020-2021 and that can be further applied in the different national school contexts across Europe. The DTT includes also innovative tools and lesson plans on the following methodologies and learning approaches, that can be used in the classrooms and in particular within the IN2STE(A)M Labs in the school year 2021-2022, and with the collaboration of 18 female STE(A)M professionals in the project. In addition, an Activity KIT (interactive/downloadable/print version) will be provided as a practical resource designed to be used by children to create an enjoyable and stimulating STE(A)M learning environment.
In the IN2STE(A)M DTT, all the methodological approaches and lesson plans proposed have been designed so as to insert Arts in the STEM disciplines, without losing the emphasis on technical and scientific topics. In fact,, through the inclusion of the Arts, IN2STE(A) M is able to stimulate students’ creativity, integrating the Arts in the school curricula and, by doing so, boost transdisciplinarity in primary schools. IN2STE(A)M therefore tries to integrate the Arts into STEM disciplines to facilitate creative expression, innovation processes (as part of the different methodological approaches presented:
Inquiry-based learning, Design Thinking, Creative Thinking etc.) as well as the way students communicate. All these methodologies and their related skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, team work, communication and all other interpersonal skills are actually considered as “key competences for lifelong learning” to be acquired by everyone (throughout lifelong learning), in order to guarantee personal fulfilment, health, possibility to join new career paths, social inclusion. The integration of Arts can therefore inspire more and more girls to join STEM courses, and to enable them to explore creative and fun ways to engage with science as well as build their confidence, their self-esteem and counter the negative stereotype attitudes about girls in STEM .
The DTT also focuses on the central role of the teacher, who will be able to manage the environment/space as well as prepare structured or unstructured materials that the children will use. Therefore, by using the DTT, teachers will be able to deliver integrated and multidisciplinary curriculum frameworks that address real world problems, and help students find solutions to society’s problems and prepare them with creative/innovative, critical, and communicative mindsets, as part of the 21st Century skills for success in society at wide, as well as in school and in the workplace .
2. LEARNING APPROACHES
IN2STE(A)M wants to integrate a 21st Century education strategy to develop more creative learning environments in primary schools, through the adoption of interdisciplinary STE(A)M learning approaches.
Today, new approaches to teaching and learning have emerged from STEM with the aim to connect with real-life and to help pupils understand and act for societal challenges. For that purpose, the learning approaches in IN2STE(A)M will incorporate the different skills pupils need to learn into a project that has an impact on the real world and at the same time help them to solve problems and work on real-life dilemmas.
The approaches and pathways for learning, as part of the Digital Teachers Toolkit, will help teachers integrate STE(A)M in their classroom and will enable students to:
• develop a better understanding of the world;
• develop higher critical thinking;
• gain experience in independent and self-directed learning;
• observe and develop innovative ideas and solutions;
• test oneself by thinking about possible different solutions to one’s own problem or that of others;
• improve their ability to express themselves in terms of concepts but also considering opinions, feelings, etc.
• boost empathy and team building;
• actively contribute to solve a problem in a cooperative manner, while improving networking as well as the ability to share and learn, to accept different points of views etc.
2.1.1 Inquiry-based learning
One of the main pedagogical approaches to deal with active learning and the development of critical thinking at school is the “Inquiry- based learning (IBL)” that motivates students to explore and gather useful data and materials. In this way, students further develop their curiosity and exploration, while exploring a topic or an issue, and while looking for solutions. Specifically, “Inquiry-based learning” is a guided inquiry where teachers present real-world problems to their students, while encouraging students to develop higher thinking skills to find out the solution and solve the problem.
The inquiry process is a way of thinking, of processing and of acting that could be carried out in real-life contexts and to explore and solve real-life problems and issues. It will be possible to start from the construction of simple objects and/or the exploration and analysis of natural phenomena. Through the Inquiry-based learning and its application in STE(A)M, teachers explain to their students how the scientific method can be applied to everyday life and to solve real-life problems. STE(A)M approaches, through the Inquiry- based learning, allow students to improve both their critical thinking and computational thinking by focusing on real-world applications from a problem-solving perspective. Teachers will not only choose topics known to the children, but will identify topics in which children display their interest and curiosity.
The approach is called “Inquiry-based learning” as it positions the learner to become an “inquirer” who develops an “investigation plan”
and, for that purpose, will gather all the necessary information and resources to carry out the investigation, in order to analyse and solve the problem at hand.
devel opIng SKILLS
EMPOWER PRODUCE C R E A T I V E L Y ANALYZE
RESEARCH implementation in class support each other take risks
connect with the community
don’t be afraid to fail
Student’s Role
be ok with failure expose students to new
Teacher’s Role ideas
Student- centered Real or simulated scenarios Self-directed in small groups Outcomes are identified by the learners Definition Problem-based learning is a Socratic instruction method. Learners are presented with problems without prior in-depth knowledge. The main Focus is on learning how to learn (cognitive ability) less on academic achievement.
Problem based learning
MAIN OBJECTIVES STUDENT'S ROLE The students play the role of independent researches. The teachers acts as a facilitator and moderator only intervening if required.
TEACHER’S ROLE STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES *Development many 21st Century Skills *Learner’s experience independent *Self -directed learning
*Very time- consuming *Assessment does not follow standard rubrics *Learners may lack the necessary drive to work independently GENDER SPESIFIC ASPECTS & ADAPTATIONS *Form mixed groups of boys and girls *Make all learners actively contribute to the solution.ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION The work is assessed in terms of cognitive skills (learning how to learn) social skills (e.g. collaboration, dealing with conflict, etc.) and creative skills (e.g. originality, presentation skills etc.
IMPLEMENTATIONS IN THE CLASROOM *Formulate a problem statement *Identify key facts *Brainstorm *Analysis of potential solutions *Acquisitions and assimilation of new knowledge *Apply the knowledge gained *Presentation and reflection SUITABILITY FOR STEAM PBL replicatesreal life scenarios and developsskills across a range of subjects.
The Inquiry structure is mainly based on 3 main phases: 1) observing, 2) questioning, 3) predicting. However, between these phases there are some sub-phases that must not be neglected, it is therefore important to explain them in detail: OBSERVATION
Students observe and explore the materials they have at their disposal QUESTION AND H
YPOTHESIS
Students debate the phenomena and ask questions
EVALUATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS
Students repeat the observations and the inquir
y/investigation
process until they feel ready to confirm and validate the hypothesis
VALIDATION OR REJECT OF THE HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis will be confirmed or rejected. Students can tr
y once
again, by reviewing and improving the process of working towards answering the initial questions
PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS
Students share their findings and main conclusions wi
th their classmates
Tips for teachers
The tips for teachers can be divided in 3 main stages:
1. Before the activity
A. Define the topic/the phenomena to be investigated (preliminary phase).
B. Don’t address the goals, but let students define their goals and carry out their active exploration/investigation by themselves.
C. Don’t set rules and let students cooperate and boost their own curiosity.
D. Take care of the diversity and consider the different types of learning of your students.
E. Investigate how issues such as social background, culture, gender etc. could influence the learning of both individual children and the whole class, during the activity.
F. Develop a small-scale intervention strategy and/or time for discussion to address diversity in your classroom before starting the activity.
2. During the activity
A. Create dynamic learning environments where students can freely experience and exchange with one another.
B. Provide the right time and the appropriate space (a lab or a classroom?) and classroom furniture (tables, chairs for one or more groups of students).
C. Instruments/materials (both paper and digital ones, including computers and projectors for the presentation), time and space are the three key elements to be always taken into consideration by the teacher.
D. Provide and make available materials for exploration and investigation by your students. Make sure you have enough material for everyone’s work, without excluding anyone.
E. Choose good materials. The choice of materials is not obvious. Try to choose even simple, recycled or everyday materials that can favour students’ imagination and creativity F. Encourage your students to explore, select and organise the
materials freely, and in an autonomous way.
G. Foster both personal and collective identity among your students, promote teamwork and encourage positive dialogue and reciprocity.
H. Encourage peer-tutoring.
I. Observe your students and collect observational data (based on the inquiry process set up by the students and also observe their behaviours and cooperation skills).
J. Don’t lead the process, but act as a facilitator for your
students: provide support and deliver information if they ask for it. You can also offer some suggestions.
3. After the activity
A. Ask students for some explanations (what they did, how they feel, the goals they reached etc.)
B. Choose the best evaluation criteria and assessment tool to monitor the inquiry process and the acquired knowledge by your students. Ex-post evaluation should be preferred.
C. Choose questionnaires to be filled by the students or open discussions to collect immediate reactions and feedback from the students.
How to motivate students? What advice should teachers give to their students?
Tips for students
A. Be curious: explore, question, look for relevant data and information
B. Be critical: think critically and creatively, be inspired and generate new ideas
C. Be autonomous and lead your own learning during the investigation process
D. Develop your investigation plan and step-by-step process: 1) set up your plan; 2) assemble all materials and equipment necessary to carry out the implementation; 3) carry out the implementation: test your prototype etc.; 4) end your implementation and draw your conclusions
E. Explore the materials and try to understand the connections between the materials and the idea, and how you can turn the elements into an idea
F. Try to explore new materials, colours etc. to support and generate your idea. Be inspired and play with arts
G. Be able to cooperate and communicate with your peers, by giving and asking for help if needed
H. Be able to reflect on your successes and failures (take the risk!). You have the possibility to try again
I. Don’t be despondent, if you fail just try it again! Embrace the failing and learn from your mistakes. Learning from mistakes is an essential part of the Inquiry Based Model but also of the Design Thinking Model.
J. Improve your self-awareness (are you aware of your
abilities?) and raise awareness of the capabilities of the group of peers in which you work and in which you are an active member
K. Be an active listener, listen to the others, pay attention and respect their point of view even when it differs from yours
What are the key factors for student success in experiential learning?
Elaborated by CESIE
PERSEVERANCE
Successes and failures as part of the game
RISK TAKING
Students are in charge of their own
investigation
CURIOSITY
Students have personal interest and show curiosity
What are the emotional skills students need?
And what are the best attitudes to be adopted by the students during their investigation process?
Elaborated by CESIE
EMOTION
Positive emotions encourage the learning experiences and are integral to learning
MOTIVATION
Personal interests and intrinsic motivation for successful learning
experiences
SENSITIVITY
Being sensitive to individual differences
and needs
In addition, techniques based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (1993) can be adopted to increase student critical thinking skills and, at the same time, help teachers to take into account the diversity and the different types of learning of their students (based
both on their cognitive, sensory and emotional skills). Therefore, there are “multiple intelligences”: different ways students learn and acquire information. All these intelligences are interconnected and integrated, as the individual uses them all to deal with the world. In addition, intelligences are stimulated by external factors, the context where we live and act, and it’s possible to combine and have different types of intelligences. It does not matter how smart you are, but it is important to focus on the type of smartness you have.
Generally, Gardner identifies eight intelligences to classify human ability:
1. Spatial (Picture Smart): ability to carry out tasks through visual figures and to express contents through visual forms. It is also called spatial-visual
2. Linguistic (Word Smart): ability to express ourselves through written and oral language
3. Logical mathematical (Number Smart): ability to define cause- and-effect relationships and solve problems; ability to make hypothesis and demonstrate their validity
4. Bodily kinaesthetic (Body smart): ability to learn through movement and use of the body, gestures and senses
5. Musical (Music Smart): ability to express oneself as well as learn through sounds and music
6. Interpersonal (People Smart): ability to understand feelings, emotions, goals and motivations of other people
7. Intrapersonal (Self Smart): ability to understand our own feelings, have a perception of ourselves and be able to express ourselves
8. Naturalistic (Nature Smart): ability to understand all human beings and the nature, by observing
The multiple intelligences will help teachers identify and adopt the most suitable learning approach for their students, while meeting their specific learning needs in order to guarantee an inclusive education for all.
2.1.2 Design Thinking
Design Thinking (DT) is a method of reasoning and problem solving that is applied to teaching to stimulate creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and the management of complex problems, while fostering soft skills that are increasingly required in the world of work.
It focuses on the individual and on their ability to develop a thought both as the creator and recipient of the project.
The Design Thinking permits to enhance students’ creative approaches especially when dealing with educational practices, but it can be also used in other fields such as in economics and business, tourism etc.
Design Thinking can be flexibly implemented and applied in cross- curricular learning at school. That’s because design thinking is not something that belongs to a single school subject, it is not explicitly linked to Arts, since we do not talk about design thinking only when we create a manual object, etc. but there can also be design thinking in the production of content, for example a digital one. DT is also used to plan a service, which is why it is widely used in the business field.
The Design Thinking institute “Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design”
(Stanford University, US) identified 5 stages in design thinking as follows:
1. Empathise: trying to understand what other people feel, while using an empathic approach and observing but also exchanging with others, so as to highlight all the facets of the problem that we must solve together and in order to distance ourselves from our personal assumptions;
2. Define: resuming all information gathered during the empathise phase, so to identify and define the core problem;
3. Ideate: start generating ideas by thinking about innovative solutions to solve the problem. It is important to brainstorm and get many ideas as possible;
4. Prototype: generate a prototype (an idea or a specific service in tourism case) that could be tested inside the organisation itself before to be proposed to our clients;
5. Test: testing phase of the prototype. The prototype will be tested and presented to the users and/or possible stakeholders or to the classmates, in order to evaluate how they feel and if the prototype/innovative solution meet their needs. Of course, we must be able to previously evaluate the level of impact on the final users (low or high) and the feasibility of our idea (low or high). That’s because a good prototype must showcase concrete ideas.
EMPATHISE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST
What is the role of teachers?
1. Before the activity
A. Work on the expression skills of your students, giving them the opportunity to test their ability to express themselves and communicate with others. You can use storytelling techniques or symbol work, where students will use symbols instead of words to express themselves.
2. During the activity
A. Stimulate the innovation and imagination of your students and invite them to develop their prototypes;
B. Let students understand that prototypes can initially be a simple draft and that the final product will not be evaluated at first. On the contrary, as a teacher you will mainly focus on the co-creation process more than on the final result;
C. Invite students to be patient for results to become visible, to work in groups by exchanging opinions and respecting their own work and that of others.
+ + - -
Work across various subjects and topics. Work from problem statements to workable solutions. Students are directly engaged from start to finish. Students have to rely on each other. Students learn by doing. Students produce pertinent and tangible solutions.
Cross-curricular Solution-focused Student-centred Collaborative learning Active learning Tangible outcomes
MA IN COMPONENTS
Strenghts & WeaknessessDevelopment of many 21 st Century skills Very time-consuming Assessment does not follow standard rubrics Learners gain experience in independent, self-directed learning
The students will take a variety of roles: researcher, technician designer,communicator;
potentially also business leader, marketeer, etc. The focus is on learning by doing.
The teacher provides clear
directions for each step. Do not limit or curb the creativity of the students. Act as a facilitator and moderator, intervening as and
when required.
DESIG N THINKI NG
2.1.3 Creating Thinking and Art-based learning
Historically, Arts and sciences have been considered two different fields of study. Contrary to this, the STE(A)M approach wants to link Arts and science, in order to create multi-disciplinary and intersectoral approaches to technology development, robotics, industrial design, engineering. In fact, even if some people think of STEM subjects as the opposite of Arts and creativity, nowadays the trend has changed.
The fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are indeed highly creative. Designing a more efficient assembly line robot, writing an innovative and new computer program, or developing a testable hypothesis are highly creative activities. As a consequence, STEM fields need creativity to raise their standing and to be approachable by students from an early age on.
Creative Thinking is the ability to consider something in a new manner and is expressed in different ways: let’s analyze the different categories of creative thinking and how they could help in the STEM education.
Creativity does not happen by chance. Learning which aims to develop creativity must be designed carefully to maximise students’ potential creativity and creative thinking. Playing with ideas and concepts also increases learning and could be an incentive for students to acquire new concepts. In STEM, the concept of creative thinking could be used as an instrument in the teaching/learning process through the use of metaphors. Metaphors create a link between two dissimilar ideas and are useful in science because they allow information to be attained by connecting the unknown with the known, representing a means of seeking answers.
In the teaching of STEM, Arts plays an important role too. For those students who may not be motivated by maths, science or technology, it may be the creative piece that gives them the right push to be engaged. Therefore, educators and teachers should boost and promote creativity among students, showing them how
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Ability to look at things in new prespectives in order to think creatively.
PROBLEM-SOLVING
Ability to determine why an issue is happening and how to resolve that issue, finding a solution also through creative thinking.
COMMUNICATION
Ability to communicate effectively an idea, linked to the ability to be a good listener, asking the right question and listening to the answers could help finding good solutions and ideas.
ORGANIZATIONS
The ability to organize ideas so others will understand and follow through with your vision.
ANALYSIS
Ability to examin things carefully to better understanding.
to investigate and explore their own creative interests and turn them into innovative ideas and projects. Specifically, Art-based Learning refers to the purposeful use of artistic skills, processes, and experiences as educational tools to foster learning in non-artistic disciplines and domains, such as STEM .
STEM education is not merely a focus on four core subjects or an increased focus on any individual letter in the acronym. STEM is the connection between science, technology, engineering and maths.
However, this sentence is not complete: arts and artistic education methods are connected with scientific subjects when it comes
to teaching and learning, enriching the STEM acronym with new meanings.
The STE(A)M approach recognises the value of art not just as a vehicle for scientific content, but as a complementary contribution.
Art-based learning is an approach focused on experiential learning, which involves using tools and a variety of arts media and materials, being creative and inventive, developing questions based on observations and first-hand experiences, exploring meaningful content, and sharing their understandings with others.
The benefits of Art-based learning for students are as follows:
• Improved Creative Thinking skills
• Lead to stronger STEM innovation outcomes in students
• Lead to higher decision-making skills
• Better Visual Learning
• Enhanced learning experience.
Moreover, art-based learning sparks creativity, collaboration, emotionally intelligent behaviour and innovation in both youngsters and adults.
Teachers and educators can involve deploy an arts-based approach in the classroom for the development of activities and lessons with students, following some tips to improve the progress of the education process:
A. Understand the links between science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics
B. Plan cooperative arts-based STEM lessons that will engage all children in the classroom as individuals or when working in small or large groups
C. Implement classroom experiences that support children’s engagement in integrated, arts-rich learning experiences on
an everyday basis
D. Recognise the power of visual and performing arts to support children’s abilities to discover, invent, explore, question, and communicate their understandings of the world
E. Document children’s knowledge development with authentic work samples and classroom artefacts.
2.1.4 Tinkering
Tinkering is a learning approach where the learners are presented with wide-ranging tools and materials that they use to explore the real world and/or STE(A)M phenomena through the process of creating something new.
By planning, designing, making, testing and refining in a personal process of creating something new, learners draw on their prior knowledge, creating connections between different existing ideas and concepts, and build a new understanding which is synthesised into their existing mental models.
Tinkering is an educational approach that was born out of the research done at the Exploratorium of San Francisco (USA). Research shows that it is a powerful and inclusive approach for STEM education.
The pedagogical references of this approach are:
CONSTRUCTIVISM: a theory of learning based on the idea that humans construct their own knowledge through direct experience, as opposed to being taught concepts in the abstract.
Constructivist teachers believe that for students to be able to learn, they need as many hands-on experiences with objects, skills and people as possible. Constructivism provides students with rich experiences and encourages them to reach their own conclusion.
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/constructivism
CONSTRUCTIONISM: is an approach that advocates student- centered, discovery learning where students use what they already know, to acquire more knowledge. Students learn through participation in project-based learning where they make connections between different ideas and areas of knowledge facilitated by the teacher through coaching rather than using lectures or step-by-step guidance. Furthermore, constructionism holds that learning can happen most effectively when people are active in making tangible objects in the real world. In this sense, constructionism is connected with experiential learning.
In constructionism the learning process can take place in two main ways:
• by building a real object “Tinkering”
• by building a virtual object “Coding” while mixing together, creativity and imagination with logic and mathematics. Coding includes computer, electronic and robotics; programming is considered a fundamental skill for the correct literacy of the new generations and in particular of the digital natives. Through coding, students can improve their “computational thinking”, which refers to a method of thinking that allows students to identify problems and solutions, and try to solve them through the use of an agent (computer or robot) that will be able to process information automatically. Furthermore, Tinkering and Coding can be combined, using physical objects (of daily recycling too) and inserting small electronic, robotic devices etc. with the aim of making these objects animated. Small audio devices, LED lights etc. can be inserted too.
An example of Tinkering activity is “Create your own robot”: children make their own handmade robots while combining everyday life materials (cardboards, wine corks, polystyrene and plywood caps but also colours, papers, metals) and small electronic devices (LED coloured lights, button batteries and other small electronic devices) to make the robot’s eyes, hands and body light up and move.
For more information, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFkUan5Uujs
To conclude, both Tinkering and Coding improve the transversal skills such as Critical Thinking and improve all logical and creative processes, placing the student at the heart of their own learning process. In addition, Tinkering and Coding place also a strong emphasis on STEM, as they enable students to apply their skills in maths and science in a way that is really engaging.
NB. Tinkering, like all other experiential learning approaches (Inquiry- based model, Creative Thinking, Design Thinking, etc.) involves the process of iteration, as if students fail, they are encouraged to try again and test again their prototype or change it while selecting other tools and materials.
Both pedagogical references, constructivism and constructionism, argue that at the centre of the learning process must be the learner.
Moreover, within Constructionism, it is demonstrated how learning is more effective when it starts from the construction of a personal artefact.
Pioneered in the United States, so far Tinkering has been less widely adopted or clearly articulated in Europe. As a relatively new and, arguably, still emerging STEM learning pedagogy, the current research base is limited. Even so, tinkering is also increasingly being viewed as a powerful tool for developing twenty-first Century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, problem solving, communication, responsibility, self-confidence, digital literacy and entrepreneurship.
The idea of Tinkering focuses on creating an educational context that supports the development of knowledge through the creation of objects that have a value and a meaning for those who are building them.
Tinkering activities involve making something through a generative, iterative process of improvisational design. They are physical, and use a wide variety of materials and tools. In a Tinkering activity, the learner is invited to play with materials and tools - but this playfulness should not be mistaken for something trivial or without utility or purpose.
How to create a Tinkering environment?
1. Before the activity
A. Create an atmosphere of play, innovation and creativity;
B. Provide sensorial and manual activities – they enable the students to engage in a physical, generative process of making something physical using tools and materials.
C. Provide materials that are enticing, evocative, inspiring, exciting – the materials should be inviting and spark people’s curiosity and interest.
D. Provide opportunities and targeted exercises, activities for different levels of challenge and therefore allow for highly variable and often unexpected outcomes.
E. Provide opportunities for the students to try something over and over and/or to work in an iterative, improvisational way - they should challenge the learner ponder, puzzle, build, test, plan, re-design, tweak and refine.
F. Fix long-term goals or starting points but no specific
challenge or problem to solve – this allows creative ideas for new goals to emerge.
2. During the activity
A. Let students be physical, immersive, creative and playful;
B. Allow students to try out and discover technical processes, tools and/or artisan crafts;
C. Give students the freedom and opportunity to pursue their own interests and therefore to create their own learning
D. Let students negotiate their own goals, pursue and express their individual interests so as to be engaged in activities that are personally meaningful to them;
Useful free, kids-friendly coding tools/platforms can be seen here:
1. Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu
2. Khanacademy: https://www.khanacademy.org 3. Block games: https://blockly.games
4. Code monster: http://www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster 5. Stencyl: http://www.stencyl.com
6. Code: https://code.org
3. TIPS TO ORCHESTRATE A STE(A)M CLASSROOM
3.1 How to set rules and expectations for learners
Within inquiry-based and problem-based learning approaches, the learning experience is not controlled by the teachers and there are no pre-established learning outcomes to be reached. Rather, the learning experience is the result of the interactions between the students and of their own structuring of their learning experience.
However, teachers still play an important role, as they need to encourage students in their learning experience, while supporting them with their learning processes and their investigations.
Especially for younger learners, it is vital to provide them with examples of how to structure their learning experience. To this end, the concept of ‘entry tickets’ and ‘exit tickets’ can be very useful. These are short, written prompts in any format which give teachers a quick assessment of the learners. Entry tickets focus students’ attention on the topic of the lesson ahead, or ask them to recall relevant background knowledge. Exit tickets collect students’
feedback on their understanding at the end of the lesson. Moreover, exit tickets force them to reflect on what they have learned: this is a very important aspect in terms of self-organisation of the learning experience, but it would not necessarily come naturally to students to sit back and to think about what they achieved, and how.
The reflective process can help students to synthesise and integrate the information gained during the lesson.
Several examples can be seen here:
https://www.weareteachers.com/exit-tickets/
Entry and exit tickets are useful because they foster participation by all students, prompting them to focus on key concepts and ideas at the beginning of a lesson while providing an easy and invaluable formative assessment method for the teacher. Considering the amount of time invested, they yield a high return of useful information to both teachers and students.
How to support students with their learning process?
1. Before the activity
A. Take into account the differences among your students and in their learning, considering the specific differences in the cognitive process.
B. Trigger their curiosity to encourage them to set up their own learning experience.
C. Encourage your students to be active explorers and inquirers.
D. Offer students the possibility to explore different alternatives, explain that there is not just one way to reach an outcome, but that different learning pathways are possible.
2. During the activity
A. Let students cooperate and find the right solution themselves;
B. Don’t provide ready-made solutions and do not be restrictive with regards to possible solutions;
C. Ask students to produce daily or weekly logs, as a way to promote scientific observation and reflective thinking.
D. Mistakes should not only be accepted, they should be
welcomed, as long as they are used as a learning opportunity and as a motivation to try again;
3. After the activity
A. In order to assess students, focus on the learning process and on the learning progress, not just on the learning outcome.
B. Provide constructive feedback and encouragement at each stage and at the end of the activity, as needed.
For teachers, it will be important to avoid traditional education models which are mainly based on knowledge transmission and knowledge retention. This can be done by adopting pedagogical approaches which focus on learning how to learn and on problem- solving, leaving students free to explore and cooperate independently.
What are the main differences, in terms of expectations for learners, between the traditional learning approach and the new learning approaches such as the Inquiry-based learning?
What are the main attitudes to be adopted by teachers?
• flexibility in supporting individual student learning
• flexibility in adopting a student-centered model
• flexibility in meeting the different learning needs of your students, while providing tailored activities
• availability to learn by the students. What can I learn about my students’ discourse and investigation process?
TRADITIONAL MODEL
The student observes, listens to the teacher
and takes notes The teacher delivers the
pedagogical content
The teacher has a role and a central position with respect to that of
the students
The teacher transfers his/her knowledge to the
students who will be the recipients
STUDENT-CENTERED MODEL
The teacher observes and records what is happening
in the classroom
Students construct knowledge from their
experiences
Students are self-motivated learners Students develop
their own pathway Students
are independent learner
3.2 How to build an effective team
A strong and cohesive team is based on the level of interpersonal communication between its members. Interpersonal communication is a set of skills that students should acquire to communicate effectively with others.
There are many approaches that can be adopted to foster communication among students. The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) permits individuals to share different points of views, learn and communicate with others while respecting their diversity and socio-cultural backgrounds as well as their opinions. At the same time, it permits individuals to cooperate with others, reinforce the sense of belonging to a group and actively participate in the society.
The RMA promotes the development of main socio-relational skills that can be also used when finding-out the solution of a problem, together in a group.
The main aspects of the RMA are:
• Nonviolent communication (listening, honest expression of oneself, respect of others when speaking
• Sharing of power (in contraposition to domination and concentration of power)
• Individual and social responsibility
• Active participation of all
• Cooperation
• Nonviolence
• Value of the individuals and of the group
• Multicultural team
• Awareness/self-awareness, in particular self-confidence as the individual learns how to communicate, interact with others and express feelings and emotions.
Group composition
• Gender diversity: balance in the repartition of boys and girls.
Make both boys and girls feel valued and included in the group
• Cultural diversity: encourage cultural understanding, respect and reciprocity and try to break down homogeneous groups
• Heterogeneous cognitive and learning skills (try to also include pupils facing learning disorders and/or any other special educational needs.) In order to succeed, try to foster and work on the team collaboration and the peer-to-peer approach
• Heterogeneous socioeconomic backgrounds. For instance, if you are organising online and remote activities, you should consider that not all students have the same access to technologies and the internet and the same availability of resources. Try to ensure inclusive school settings.
In order to guarantee the effectiveness of teamwork and avoid conflicts within the group, teachers can play the role of “facilitator”
or identify 1 facilitator per working group, to be selected among the pupils. It is highly recommended to ensure students rotate between the roles at the end of an activity (1. Facilitator, 2. Researcher 3.
Scriber), so that everyone can have the possibility to participate in the activity. As a teacher, you can assign students to roles to develop new skills and move out of their comfort zone, while fostering initiative and innovativeness. The facilitator, for his/her part, will enhance the communication among the members of the group and he/she will ensure that anyone is left. Everyone should feel welcome and accepted in the group.
It is really important to calibrate and choose the right size of a group.
Small groups tend to work efficiently because they easily cooperate and coordinate efforts. Large groups have harder cooperation but they can maybe carry out larger and more complex activities.
3.3 How to manage the space
How to manage the classroom in a new, dynamic and organized space, different from the frontal structure of traditional education?
Teachers should think about how to create the classroom environment in which children’s inquiry will take place. How?
Flexible environments and classroom arrangement
Discovery and investigation activities can be conducted within the standard classroom where, however, the students will be divided into working groups and where the desks can be repositioned differently, not facing the teacher’s desk but, for example, creating blocks or circles so as to easily facilitate cooperation and communication between pupils.
The seating arrangement in the classroom is very important and should be taken into consideration and well managed by teachers.
This is because the teacher no longer gives rules but leaves the students the possibility to organise their work by themselves and independently with others.
Why is reorganising space and having flexible environments so important?
• Reorganising the space allows you, as teacher, to abandon the typical vertical structure of communication where the teacher is seated in front of the students and deliver the lesson, transferring knowledge to the students;
• Reorganising the space allows for a more horizontal communication structure, where students are considered equal and interact and collaborate with each other;
• Reorganising the space allows you, as a teacher, to create an interactive environment and promotes cooperative learning between pupils. If there is enough space, students will be able to arrange their chairs and desks differently, so as to choose the arrangement that encourages their interaction and teamwork;
• Reorganising the space also means choosing carefully the materials, for example by opting for soft surfaces, furniture at the height of the pupils, tables and chairs that can be assembled and/or easily moved around.
What are the main benefits for students, generated by more flexible spaces?
This new arrangement of the classroom will allow students to identify themselves with the team and facilitate knowledge sharing, research, reflection and collaboration among students.
Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘learning space’
is being reconsidered in terms of a blend of a virtual and actual location. There are a number of online resources especially apt for work in Arts to be planned and displayed in a virtual environment.
Some may require an initial effort to understand how to best deploy them, though in the long-term they are an investment worth making.
Here, we are listing but a few of them:
• https://planbook.com
• https://www.artsonia.com/teachers/ideas
• https://web.seesaw.me
• https://www.artsteps.com
Some inspiring ideas on how to create flexible and alternative environments
Blended learning classroom (e.g. flipped classroom)
The basic idea of the “flipped classroom” is that the traditional, theoretical lesson is an “homework” (also in e-learning environment) while the time in the classroom is used for collaborative activities, experimenting activities and workshops. In this context, the teacher does not assume the role of leading actor, rather he/she becomes a facilitator for an experimenting group of students. It’s a mixed approach, combining both face-to-face and online learning/computer- mediated activities both at school and once at home.
Multisensory classroom
The idea of the multisensory classroom is that students learn through engaging more than one sense at a time (taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing, and movement). A multisensory didactic experience is offered to the whole class through the use of sounds, luminous blackboards and desks, 3D writing boards etc. There is a lot of use of digital technologies too. In multisensory classrooms, students learn through touch “tactile” and movement “kinaesthetic” elements, as well as sight and hearing.
Children can also experience virtual reality in the classroom, where computer-generated graphics help create things, scenarios and virtual settings/environments as close to reality as possible.
Movable classroom
It is based on the creation of new study and play surfaces, where there are no longer fixed stations but desks can be moved, removed etc. according to the learning activity. Need to focus on the healthy kinesthetic of children too, while providing them high-quality surfaces and materials.
STE(A)MLab
There are workstations where students can interact and explore together. Students have access to different materials including multimedia, internet access, projectors etc. and they can move around the workstations and freely explore the materials and also the physical space around them.
The labs will be educational spaces complementary to the class, they do not replace the traditional class but constitute a new way of teaching that certainly increases cooperation between students, common sense and the inclusion of all students, even the most vulnerable ones. In addition, smart STEM classrooms and labs should allow students to access computers or tablet devices, as well as Wi-Fi.
Virtual classroom
The educational materials and lesson contents are transmitted through the internet. We move from a purely in-person format to an online one, where students meet, exchange and learn through virtual learning platforms
Station learning
In a station learning scenario, students and content are divided into three or more groups. The teacher delivers the lesson on one section of content, while the remaining sections are distributed across the stations, where students process the content through independent activities. All students rotate between all of the stations in groups.
Variations are possible; for instance, the teacher can nominate one or more ‘student experts’ for each station, where they will explain the section of the content specific to their station. By breaking up the class in smaller groups, students get more individual attention and more time with hands-on activities. However, it does require a great amount of planning. Timing is critical; therefore, it has to
be coordinated perfectly. Classroom management may be tricky, especially if there are students who struggle to manage themselves appropriately.
How can teachers set-up the classroom design and layout?
How can they change the dynamics of the classroom?
Some inspiring ideas can be adopted when trying to restructure the traditional classroom (within the conventional rooms) and reducing the traditional separation between student and teacher, working on how to connect students through:
A. Seating arrangement to maximise collaboration among the students.
B. Desk and tables arrangement to get flexibility and be able to use desk and tables in multiple ways and for multiple purposes.
C. Storage of the materials to let students organise
autonomously their activity, while having access to materials and tools.
Many of these inspiring ideas are typical of the Montessori classroom, where children can freely experience and learn and play in different ways: by themselves, in pairs, in small groups, in large groups as well as inside and/or outside the classroom and by using tables or on the contrary, sitting on the floor. All that, in order to adopt more convivial models and classroom assessments to make children feel active and integral part of the group.
Differently from traditional classrooms, where the teacher is seated in front of the students, in non-traditional classrooms, the students are arranged in order to encourage collaboration between them and facilitate communication. The first-time teachers implement a new form of classroom organization, they must introduce students to a completely different concept of class and work methodology, and it may take longer than expected to switch from a passive to an active
learning process. Moreover, in a non-traditional classroom, students could easily get distracted. It will be up to the teacher to motivate students to carry out their tasks and be self-disciplined. Otherwise, the seating arrangement and classroom management could fail.
Here are some examples of classroom arrangement (pictures A-G), elaborated by the IN2STE(A)M Consortium:
• Layout A: flexible traditional classroom. Teacher is seated not right in front of students but in the corner, so there is less feeling that teachers give straight rules. However, the student will be more committed to listening to the teacher (A) than to socialis ing and working with the peer group (E & F);
• Layout B: amphitheatre setup. Sets are in rows facing the teacher desk. It is best suited for presentations and/or lectures;
• Layout C: horseshoe layout;
• Layout D: snake layout. C and D allow a greater participation from the students, enabling a lively discussion of ideas as students sit facing each other;
• Layout E: rounds setup in groups of four
• Layout F: rounds setup in groups of six. E and F allow students to work together and in groups, encouraging socialisation and teamwork. Generally, smaller groups are easier to manage and boost collaboration than in big groups.
A. Flexible traditional classroom B. Amphitheatre setup
D. Snake layout C. Horseshoe layout
E. Rounds setup in groups of four F. Rounds setup in groups of six
3.4 How to manage the time
If we want to spark creativity and inquisitive learning, we need to accept that this can be messy, noisy and time-consuming. This means we have to prepare accordingly, starting with timetabling. The actual cognitive process of learning cannot be confined within the artificially imposed time constraint of a lesson. Especially for interdisciplinary approaches like STE(A)M, it makes sense to timetable groups of lessons into one block, like a morning block or an afternoon block.
During the block of lessons, various teachers can collaborate to deliver joint lessons.
Collaborative learning, differently from traditional and frontal learning, can be more time-consuming. Time allocated for frontal teaching can be shortened according to the pedagogical content delivered. However, when students experience by themselves and lead their inquiry process and discovery, they need more time to observe, discuss and exchange. Collaborating to look for information, collect data and materials independently and to achieve a common task requires additional time. This is why teachers should work on more flexible timings. To this end, it is very helpful to have established learning routines in the classroom. As discussed under point 3.1, there are simple steps that can be taken so that students know instantly what is expected from them in terms of behaviour;
this also helps them to learn how to structure their learning time.
Not having to repeat the same instructions saves teachers a lot of time and makes students feel less bored about having to hear the same things time and over again. Furthermore, students can be split into groups and, similar to the station learning described under 3.3 above, while the other groups work collaboratively on some specific tasks, the teacher can directly teach one group at a time. This allows every student to have a more meaningful and in-depth interaction with the student, and the teacher will be able to tailor the teaching to the specific group.
Furthermore, the learning process will be smoother if there is harmony and collaboration, as well as empathy among the students.
The teacher will therefore have the responsibility to ensure a cooperative climate within the class, while fostering the “sense of us”
and the sense of belonging to a learning group.
However, in order to avoid endless discussions, students can establish beforehand how much time they will approximately need and keep time on their activities using a timer. They can also structure a timeframe of each activity and step. Working in small groups is highly suggested in order to better manage time.
For teachers too it might be helpful to set a timer. This is to make sure that important parts of the lesson are not missed, e.g. clean-up time after a science experiment, or play time after a revision session, etc.
3.5 How to select and manage the materials
The selection of materials is really important, as students can increase the complexity of their learning while managing concrete materials. Students start from abstraction and move towards hands- on activities and products, to be used in a variety of subject areas at school.
Students can implement their self-directed learning experience at school, by interacting with practical life materials. In addition, the Montessori method encourages the provision of materials that have been conceived and designed to help students learn and deal with difficult concepts. However, these materials are mainly used in pre- school education more than in primary school, where teachers prefer everyday life materials, even recycled ones, rather than specifically designed objects (such as those of Montessori: movable letters of the alphabet , pink tower, sound cylinders etc.)
List of possible everyday life materials (combining arts and constructions materials):
• Colours
• Pencils
• Markers
• Glue
• Wire
• Tape
• Scissors
• Staples
• Papers
• Polystyrene
• Cardboards
• Corks
• Plywood
• Straws
• Paper rolls
• Mix of fabric scraps (different sizes and colours)
• Mix of buttons (different sizes and colours)
• Cables and copper wires
• Small electronic devices (speakers for sound, LED lights, batteries.) NB. As a teacher, you will offer children a wider set and list of materials, so as to give them the possibility to solve the problem through a variety of choices. You can have a shelf for storing and displaying materials and tools, where students will freely select their materials.
3.6 How to assess students’ skills and behaviors (the B.A.M.
model)
The IN2STE(A)M project pedagogical approach foresees and suggests a specific assessment model targeted to teachers. This model, the Behavioral Assessment Model (BAM), aims to assess & monitor the acquisition of key competences in STE(A)M as well as the impact on
the learning process of students, especially young girls, related to STE(A)M concepts and their behavioural change.
It will measure students’ learning, attitudes and behaviour before and after their participation in the IN2STE(A)M project and their engagement in the IN2STE(A)M Labs from September 2021.
The BAM model defines a set of STE(AM) skills by levels which are aligned with 21st C entury skills, in order to encourage children to work together and to create innovative solutions to real-world problems. The BAM provides specific tools for teachers, to be used in the class simultaneously with the toolkit, and in order to effectively evaluate students’ progress in regard to that set of STE(A)M skills.
The BAM tools are easy and simple to implement by teachers:
1. sharing sessions to directly retrieve students’ feedback;
2. a teachers’ diary which will allow teachers to keep track of students’ progress;
3. a student’s collaborate online board which will allow the register of practical activities and promote their ownership;
4. pre- and post-comparative questionnaire for students which will support the comparative analysis of their STE(A)M skills progress.
To conclude, IN2STE(A)M suggests teachers to adopt and use this model while implementing the STE(A)M toolkit and labs. More about the BAM model is available in a separate and detailed document as part of the IO4 in IN2STE(A)M, to be used as final transversal action, fundamental to measure the real impact of the project at national/
international/EU level.
4. THE ACTIVITY KIT FOR STUDENTS
4.1 Introduction to the Activity KIT for students
The Activity KIT for students is a complementary tool, elaborated by the IN2STE(A)M Consortium, and it will be used to carry out concrete activities (at school or at home) based on the STE(A)M approaches and testing the different methodologies (Inquiry-Based model, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Design Thinking, Tinkering) used in the Digital Teacher’s Toolkit.
From September 2021, the Consortium will implement a cycle of IN2STE(A)M Labs where teachers in Italy, Portugal, Poland, Turkey, Cyprus and Greece will actively test both the Digital Teacher’s Toolkit and the Activity KIT with their pupils. The Labs will involve collaboration by 18 female STE(A)M professionals, as well as several arts practitioners related to museums and other cultural spaces, in order to ensure the involvement of key structures that support transdisciplinary and cross-sectorial approaches and providing an important motivation factor for girls through the involvement of female role models.
Specifically, the Activity KIT co-led by CESIE (Italy) and DANMAR (Poland) will be a hands-on practical resource designed for use by children aged 8-11 on how to implement STE(A)M concepts (including inquiry-based and real-world problem-based methodologies) and
connecting scientific areas with the Arts-based approaches in a fun, engaging and inclusive way. Therefore, the Activity KIT includes a set of games and experiments focused on creativity, innovation, building and construction and easily replicable in the classroom or at home, using Arts and artistic tools
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bezzi, M & Caltabiano T (2017). Documento di sintesi dei lavori della Conferenza di Catania “Progettare insieme in H2020: Scienze socio- economiche e umanistiche (SSH) & Scienze, Tecnologia, Ingegneria e Matematica (STEMS)”. Retrieved from:
https://www.apre.it/media/495153/catania_doc_tecnico.pdf
EPALE (2017). Tinkering. A practitioner guide for developing and implementing tinkering activities. Retrieved from:
https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/resource-centre/content/tinkering- practitioner-guide-developing-and-implementing-tinkering
HCT Handmade Creative Thinking (2013). Retrieved from:
https://cesie.org/risorse/hct-manual/
OECD (2019). Fostering students’ creativity and critical thinking.
Retrieved from:
https://www.oecd.org/education/fostering-students-creativity-and-critical- thinking-62212c37-en.htm
Riboldi, V (2018). Da STEMS a STEAM un nuovo approccio allo studio delle materie scientifiche a scuola con la “A” di Arte? Retrieved from:
http://www.erasmusplus.it/sondaggio-steam/
Wolpert-Gawron, H (2016). What the Heck Is Inquiry-Based Learning?
Teachers use inquiry-based learning to boost student engagement.
Retrieved from:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-inquiry-based-learning-heather- wolpert-gawron
