It is a well-known fact that the job market is evolving at an exponential rate along with the adoption of new technologies, yet our education system has not been so agile and is slower to change. For the most part, pupils continue to learn the same staple subjects that have been around for decades and are confined to learning these subjects in a classroom setting. In order to better equip their students for the future, Cannons Creek Independent School has introduced STEAM as a core curriculum area – an amalgamation of Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. The goal of STEAM-based learning is to give pupils methods to explore new and creative ways of problem-solving, ask thought-provoking questions, innovate, and link multiple fields to the context beyond the classroom walls. This interdisciplinary approach has been launched with their Grade 7 pupils this year with the vision to expand this to the rest of the GET phase in 2023 with the introduction of Drone technology into the classroom.
During STEAM this term, our Grade 7s have been creating 3D board games (with working mechanisms), and as an additional challenge, they have been asked to use the Micro:bits to code a digital element for their game, such as a digital dice or random choice selector. To do this they had to explore more of the fundamental elements of programming such as creating variables, conditional statements, and iterations. We look forward to playing their games soon!
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