On Wednesday the 23rd of January, as part of our collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ISM students participated in a STEAM Day Event. Students had the opportunity to collaborate and participate in exciting workshops and activities in all subjects. These activities increased students’ understanding of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts & Maths) while developing their interdisciplinary learning and practical problem-solving skills.
Our theme this year was ‘Space’. The children were wowed right from the start of the day as parent Ivan Rubtsov showed the children a variety of tremendous photos taken by his own telescopes, all the way from the Chilean Andes. He also taught the children lots about lightspeed and The Milky Way.
For the rest of the morning, the children were very busy building and launching rockets. Nursery to Year One had a competition to design the best-looking rocket, while Year Two to Year Four constructed and fired their own water rockets up into the sky. The best designed rocket, made by Zakhar in 4A, flew approximately 20 metres high!
For the rest of the day, the children were engaged in all sorts of other activities. Nursery children observed materials through telescopes, Reception used bee bots to code their way around a new planet and Year One constructed a new style Mars Rover. Year Two made and fired balloon rockets across their rooms, Year Three took on the marshmallow landing challenge. Year Four decided what they would need to take to a new planet, weighed these objects, figured out how much it would cost to fly their weight into space and then chose only the essentials, based on their very strict budget.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the day, which was evident by their huge smiles as they went home. Salome from 3A finished the day with this quote: “Can it be STEAM Day every day?”
Written by Jack Salisbury, Year 4 Teacher
