It's Primarily About Thinking Outside The Box

Its Just ASTEP to the right.

The ASTEP program (Australia/Asia STEM Educators Progam) that I ran earlier this year, supported by the Australian Government through DET and DFAT, allowed me to share some approach and activities with STEM educators in several South East Asian countries. It was a great experience, and the workshops were so well received that I was asked back to run some more. This time I was able to work with almost all of the educators within one of  the great international schools within Vietnam. the AIS ( Australia International School) in Ho Chi Minh City). The professional development was able to coincide with the start of the new school year and the orientation week for the newly recruited primary school educators.

The AIS is like many of the leading  international schools in the region, they are linked in with educational frameworks such as the IB PYP/MYP system. Many have an understanding of the need for both excellent core academic outcomes, and higher level skills such as problem solving, inquiry, critical thinking. These schools were originally created to serve the needs of ex-pat communities, but are now serving a roll in providing educational opportunities for the broader community. Serving students from the local communities is a key part of the schools forward strategy. These initiatives are critical stepping stones for potential international students seeking tertiary education in countries - such as Australia - that actively support such students.

The schools leadership was keen to involve the support teachers in this professional development. It did mean I was working with over 60 teachers, but this added a great dynamic to the workshops. Such support teachers are integral to the physical staging of activities and assisting in supporting aspects of the ESL challenges within such classes. The more they understand the approach, the content and the keys to effective facilitation, the stronger the teaching team becomes.

A Little Shadow and Light

The entire workshop was hands on, activity driven, and unplugged. As is my -"style" - I shared activities that use the most humble materials to achieve the powerful outcomes. The teaching staff  I worked with cater for students from K to senior primary. A very wide range, in terms of the children developmental levels, and consequently the kinds of activities that were appropriate. 

The activities that I often share , focus on observation, curiosity and engagement leading to the formation of questions, and from there --deeper exploration. This fits well with the IB framework and the approach taken by many progressive education systems. It also means the same initial activity can grow, and stretch and extend across many developmental stages. Not just across the school years, but across skills level differences within a class.  The use of simple materials also means the students can take the ideas and activities home, to share, and continue exploring.

The first part of the day we focused, and reflected on colour and light, on shadows, and images. We used a range of materials for each activity, promoting substitution of resources, innovation and experimentation. There were no instruction sheets, but plenty of smiles and animated conversations. 

I believe that's a cause and effect relationship.

We Puzzled A Few Things Out

A key to all the activities, was the role of open questions and observation ( inquiry) to support engagement. This fostered curiosity and gave participants the time and environment to grow deeper understandings. Not all the activities where on the S of STEM. I'm a strong believer in the M, and the T (Thinking). 

I introduced the group to my Shapenet activity. A shape and colour comparison activity, suitable from early years in primary to secondary school. After the educators got a feel for the task in the forward direction, we reversed it. Even before I finished explaining the change in rules, there was a huge gasp of apprehension mixed with comprehension. Using the networks created in the first phase ( which is in effect a training activity for recognition of shape, colour,size) they emptied the network, swapped the flip chart papers with other groups, and had to now try and create a new collection of shapes that fulfilled the links in the network.

They immediately felt and recognized the change in thinking it now demanded. The questions they wrestled with where ones of what shape has 2 things in common with this, but only 1 thing in common with that. This had now become an activity rich in problem solving, strategy, logic, and set theory. and they loved it. The extension we only had time to discuss highlights how the same activity can be a priming experience for the mathematics used in advanced encryption and cryptography.

A Bit Of Colour And Movement

A common and important part of many curricula, is the idea of how we can KNOW things. In some education systems this features as the scientific method, or how science works, or science as a human endeavor. In the STEM ecosystem it might surface as problem solving or critical thinking. It may get emphasized in design thinking as part of the "propose - test - refine" cycles. But it's there somewhere.

And it is necessary to bring students into these ways of thinking as early as possible.

Followers of this blog will know the paper flower activity I often run, which provides a great framework for fostering observation, critical thinking, hypothesis formation and testing. The use of different materials,and different treatments provides data points, case studies against which students can check and test their conjectures. 

The simple fascination of watching the flowers open is present in teachers and students , here in Vietnam as it is in other countries. We even had time to make and use some turmeric paper flowers, and ammonia, to have the flowers not only open but change colour. Introducing chemistry as an extension to the activity.

A big hit with the primary school teachers and support teachers at AIS was the shaving cream - offset printing activity.  Some shaving cream, food dye, aluminium foil, and card stock, and the group were off. Colour mixing, creativity, manufacturing processes, and many other phenomena emerged as the groups created, and messed around. One of the all time great Make-&-Take activities.

Common across many of the activities, was the integration of art, design, creativity and scope for self expression and individual input. Such features can easily be trimmed from a learning activity. sometimes to save time, try to ensure completion or success. It was great to talk with the educators at AIS, who clearly understand the importance of such aspects as part of the overall learning strategy for their students. It is so rewarding to work with people that "get it".

We End With A Handshake

Even though it was a long day, and in some ways a challenging one for the participants, the energy and buzz in the room was as strong at the end of the day as when we started. To wrap up the day, we went back to look at one of my favorite participate problem solving activities. The handshake challenge. 

This wonderful activity always makes me smile and confirms how central space and spatial reasoning is in how we think about and tackle problems. 

To watch a group move from chaos to clarity, as they begin to self order like a school of fish, and suddenly use space  to create an algorithm to handle the problem is rewarding each and every time.

For some participants, dissecting the problem then comes naturally. Allowing them to treat it numerically and well as conceptually. 

Sometimes a little facilitation is needed to tip them over the edge into a pool of comprehension.

The students at AIS are in good hands. At the BBQ that followed the workshop, - to welcome the new year and new teachers - a number of the participants came and thanks me for day - which is nice. But they all expressed how the activities were so relevant to their work, and they were already planning WHEN not IF they would bring these into the class.  That's not nice, that's gold.