坪山中山中学STEAM课程正式开课

Wrenches, scanners, welding machines and 3-D printers can be found at every corner of the STEAM classroom at Zhongshan Middle School in Pingshan District. These gadgets are the teachers’ tools for teaching, discussing, demonstrating, making and processing handicrafts.

The STEAM course is a project jointly initiated by Pingshan Education Bureau and Israel aiming to cultivate students’ creativity and improve their hands-on skills.

STEAM stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics” and represents an educational model that integrates the above five disciplines into the classroom. It stimulates students’ imaginations and encourages them to put knowledge into practice using new technologies.

During each STEAM class, students are asked to use different materials including peanuts, cardboard and colored iron wires to make storage boxes, cute cartoon characters and lifelike spiders. And by the time class ends, their handicrafts are completed.

“STEAM demands high hands-on skills,” Yang Ying, a 7th grader said, adding that the course not only hones her hands-on skills and improves her imagination, but also improves her second language skills since the course is taught in English.

Yang said that the STEAM course was very interesting, and that students were at the center of the classroom where they could think freely.

Ba Chunxia, an IT teacher who has more than 10 years of teaching experience, said compared with old-fashioned classroom models where students follow orders from the teachers, STEAM courses transform students into leaders and assistants, thus forming a new type of partnership between students and teachers.

Xia Rongman, one of the teachers in charge of a STEAM course at Zhongshan Middle School, said, “The best part about the course is that it stimulates students’ creativity and imagination.” Students can also use new technology such as 3-D printers and laser cutting machines to make their own handicrafts.

To make sure that every student gets equal attention from teachers, the STEAM class at the school is small with no less than three teachers and no more than 25 students. The 12 classes of the 7th grade are subdivided into 24 classes and the course is accessible to all students of the grade. Every week there is one course. All teachers must qualify by majoring in science or engineering and have the ability to teach the course in English. (Yang Mei)