STEAM AT BISS Puxi

In the first few weeks of this year, the STEAM department was a flurry of activity. Over the summer, the DVC (Da Vinci Centre) underwent many changes with new resources being purchased and a new system of organisation being introduced. The DVC now has clearly labelled areas for the students to have easy access to the existing tools and the new consumable materials. The design possibilities are endless!

Building on the success of previous years, these spaces will be used to enhance the learning that goes on in lessons. STEAM is a cross-curricular subject and the different spaces have been updated to allow for more links across the curriculum.

Already this year, the cooking room was used by the Principal and a group of eager Secondary students who cooked Korean ‘tteokbokki’. The next scheduled event is a cooking experience for Year 2 students, when they will be making desserts for a royal banquet.

The DVC weeks for Term 1 have been planned into the calendar and Year 6 students hit the ground running last week building WW2 shelters. Other classes have been able to explore the new space to create mini people, windmills, and some 3D printed projects.

Along with robotics being taught across the curriculum, the weekly First Lego League Robotics ECA started again this term. Sheree and Nathaniel Brown help to guide the students through various programming and building challenges while tapping into their interests and expanding their knowledge of programming.

BISS has invested in 12 sewing machines this year and a large collection of material. Students will be able to use these to assist with creating items for their STEAM projects as well as during the Sewing ECA.

After the success of VR in Secondary, BISS has invested in classroom VR for the Primary School. This is a new initiative being launched this year and will be rolled out shortly. Staff CPD will be delivered to ensure that everyone is ready to deliver exciting lessons using the 24 child-friendly VR headsets. The addition of virtual reality elements and augmented reality experiences during lessons will help students to engage with the different topics and widen their learning beyond the four walls of the classroom.

Steam at BISS is always expanding and introducing new technologies and resources to better improve student outcomes because we are ambitious!