STEM for Kids
In the project, with the STEM approach (science, technology, mathematics and engineering), children learned to solve and look for solutions to various model problems of everyday life.
The project activities supported and developed 21st century skills - critical thinking, problem solving, creative thinking, communication, collaboration, digital literacy and the use of teacher-supported technologies.
The project focused on learning through the STEM approach, which is today the educational model of the 21st century. With the help of STEM, children have mastered scientific, technical, engineering and mathematical disciplines and incorporated them into their daily lives. Thanks to the STEM approach, children have become individuals who think, explore and learn in terms of development and progress in the world.
In October, everyone designed a logo and we selected the common logo of our project based on a survey. We have created an information brochure. Together, we participated in CodeWeek 2020, with our activities Programming without digital technology and activities using digital technology. We participated on CodeWeek with the activity Programming with BeeBot - Let´s learn about animals with BeeBot. The children created a logo in the WordArt program. November: Our topic is "Cleaning and hygiene". We made a hand sanitizer with the children, we learned how to wash our hands properly, we watched our hands under a digital microscope. For World Teachers' Day, we made a poster with our Avatars. December: Our topic is "Healthy eating" Children discussed a healthy diet, created a food pyramid. They played a created online game in LearningApps What is healthy and what is not. Kids painted Slovak national dishes from potatoes. We also involved parents, the children created beautiful creations from fruit at home. In the end, they made a food box. January: - Cooperation; Mixed teams of schools are formed and healthy lifestyle activities are presented online and our project logo is painted online. February: Joint poetic work on "Healthy living and nutrition". On Safe Internet Day, we drew Pixel Art and created and played Puzzles from the Safe Internet logo. March: Our topic: "Water". We have determined the problem situation for the topic of Water. We watched videos about Water Cycle. We did an experiment Water Cycle in a Bag. We discussed how to save water and in LearningApps we created the game How to save water. The children drew pictures saving water at home. We got involved in World Water Day by drawing pictures and creating a poster. Together with the children, we created an Irrigation System for watering herbs in the classroom. Together with the children from the project, we developed studies of the common story STEM The Adventures of Bobo Bear. The children drew pictures and created part of the story. April: From our part of the STEM Adventure story, we created a joint e-book, which is the output of our project and our activities. Kids created audio pictures about bear in ChatterPix. We finished the project with the Final Webinar, where we evaluated the project and our activities. The developed project questionnaires were evaluated by children and parents.
The Kids for STEM project enriched our educational activities, children solved interesting tasks according to the STEAM plan and developed key competencies in children. Children from kindergartens and primary schools from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Slovakia and Portugal collaborated in the project. Kids from different countries created a lot of nice joint activities such as the common poetry About a Healthy Lifestyle, the Common Story STEM Adventure of Bobo bear. Together we also created an eBook with presentation of our project. The children enjoyed working on the project, they learned a lot and created a lot of nice products.
I worked on the project together with my colleague Božena Beníková from the Mravčeky class. We realised the project with neurotypic children from the class Mravčeky and with children from the special class Myšky at the Iľjušinova Kindergarten in Bratislava, Slovakia.
