Steam Education - News

November 2017 - SPACE students bring science to life in class through STEAM-workshop

23/11/2017

Six senior SPACE students of AP university College gave a STEAM-workshop about Climate Change for both national and international students during the international STEAM Week – hosted by AP University College from the 20th till 24th of November 2017 – at Campus Spoor Noord in Antwerp. During the workshop, students had to create a water and air purifier with only basic materials to get a sense of climate impact connected to air and water pollution. Laura Palinckx, last year student Secondary Education, is one of the SPACE students that held the workshop and elaborates her experiences of both the workshop and the SPACE project.

“The workshop was absolutely fun and informative. I think all participating students loved it. We even introduced ourselves with a bit of slam poetry. Which makes sense, since art-performance is a key element in STEAM-education. After that we made two groups of students and gave them some cloth,

bottles and other basic material to assemble a water and/or air purifier” explains Laura. “It didn’t have to get too advanced or technical, it was meant to improve their interest in science, their knowledge about how these things work and of course, how it is connected to climate change.”

To Vlissingen and back

The workshop needed careful preparation because, ultimately, the subject material is meant to educate children of pre-primary and primary schools about science and climate change. “That’s why we went to HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen, The Netherlands, last week in the context of their own international week. We presented the concept of STEAM-education and practiced our workshop over there with interested students. It was an ideal preparation for the real workshop during the STEAM-week” says Laura in retrospect.

Pascale Mast, lecturer at AP University College and co-organizer of the STEAM-week continues: “The trip to Vlissingen meant an international exchange of knowledge and experiences in relation to the STEAM-week with foreign students within the SPACE-atmosphere, but it was also a great way to strengthen the bonds with our Dutch education partner HZ University College in Vlissingen. We intensely invest into internationalization of students and this opportunity perfectly matched our interests and needs.”

SPACE as an advantage

The SPACE project sure has a positive effect on student’s curriculum, as Laura explains enthusiastically: “The SPACE project really means a lot to my teacher training study program. Since I entered the program last year I had the chance to implement science courses in a very creative and playful way.

This mainly happened within the context of STEAM-education where we look at artistic ways to teach children and youngsters about science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics. I really love it, especially because starting from September 2018 I’m going to teach math to secondary school students. SPACE helped me to find alternative and pleasant ways to make math a more interesting course.”