By Emily Pontus and Sarah Coull
Great innovations begin with a challenge. This is the foundation that sparked our inspiration to create an immersive technology day for students in our district. Our district does an excellent job in creating district-wide coding initiatives for students. We longed to take this concept to the next level and broaden the vision to incorporate more hands-on STEAM while also connecting students to their peers and their community. Thus, our “Girls in STEAM” day was created! We designed an experience to inspire future innovators but also to engage students through real-world activities that bring STEAM concepts to life in meaningful and practical ways.
Setting up a Girls in STEAM event
Our school district, like many across Canada, is committed to initiatives that engage girls, and those who identify as girls, in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math). In British Columbia, Applied Design Skills and Technology (ADST) is a mandatory part of the curriculum for all students and often a part of the teacher-librarian portfolio. Typically, our teacher-librarians partner with our district technology lead teachers, to host and plan events focused on celebrating and supporting girls interested in coding. This year, we had an idea and wanted to use our teacher-librarian knowledge in a new way.
We took some time to consider what girls are looking for in a stellar STEAM event and decided on three basic areas:
- Accessible technologies – modalities that allow for mastery at a basic level
- Face-to-face mentors- to encourage them in their explorations and further education
- Real-world applications for their learning
Guided by the Design Thinking Process as laid out by the Institute of Design at Stanford, we set out to design a technology-centered event that was deeply rooted in our local context to invite girls to explore STEAM initiatives.
We first assessed our local resources. Our district resources are rich and varied; not only does our district resource library contain a variety of fantastic, current robotic technologies, but our district technology and ADST leads are all women! All of these were ideal fits for our vision!
Our second task was to assess our community resources. Our district careers teacher has created an outstanding database of community presenters. We sought out a variety of local women excelling in STEAM careers and invited them to participate in our event. They responded with enthusiasm.
Next, we considered practical applications. It was essential to us that this event guide students to look beyond themselves to the needs of the world. This is where the Design Thinking Process spoke to our vision. The Design Thinking focus on empathy and authentic engagement with real-world needs was just the provocation we were looking for!
We created an event divided into four parts: Exploration, Teaching, Mentorship, Application.
Exploration
Giving students choice and voice in what they are learning is something we always want to encourage in our practice. We wanted to ensure that students had the opportunity to guide their own learning and follow their interests on this day. The start of the day was dedicated to letting girls explore various technologies. With the goal of rapid mastery, we curated a selection of robots, apps and ADST activities that would allow students to experience creative success with moderate training. Teacher-librarians shared modalities which they felt equipped to support. We set up tables around the gym, each guided by a teacher-librarian and district leads:
- Makey-Makey
- Make-Do Cardboard
- Lego EV3 robotics
- 3D printing and Tinkercad
- Sewing
- Painting
- Green Screen and iMovie
- Scratch
- Stop Motion Studio
- Canva
- Thinglink
- App design
Students had time to explore activities with each technology again, and then selected one to focus on during a time of in-depth learning. Led by the teacher-librarian expert, students were guided through a simple activity for about 45 minutes.
Teaching
We then gathered to learn together about the Design Thinking Process. The final project would focus on the first four stages of the Design Thinking Process: Empathy, Defining, Ideating, Prototyping (see above). This paradigm was new for some students, but we wanted to encourage the foundation of empathy as the root of practical creativity. Using creative examples of student innovations from around the world, we discussed with the group how empathy can help innovators gain valuable insights about the experiences of their users which is key to defining the needs that require solutions.
Mentorship
We believe that strong local mentors would inspire connection and support for our young innovators. During lunch, local women in STEAM careers shared in round-table conversations with the girls about their careers, and the passions and training that led them into these careers. We had a local sewing business owner, a hydrologist and wetland scientist, a software designer, a construction project manager, a fraud prevention professional, military photographer and an ADST teacher. Students came prepared with questions to ask our local experts about their fascinating careers. Conversations were quick to allow guests to move to multiple tables and girls to be exposed to at least 3 different presenters.
Application
After all this learning and listening, and fueled by a pizza lunch, we launched into the second half of the day! At this point, students had gained valuable experience with a variety of modalities, learned about the Design Thinking Process and met with real-world local mentors. We then unleashed them to their creative ideating and prototyping.
The task was to use the Design Thinking Process to create a prototype that would make a local area more accessible for someone with exceptional needs. Given that our time was limited, we supported the Design Thinking Process by providing students with an AI generated image and a description of the user groups and a location to adapt in the Comox Valley.
The group task was to ideate and prototype a creative solution for their assigned user-group with the option to include any of the technological modalities we had explored earlier in the day.
We placed a large amount of cardboard, glue guns, tape, wood scraps and other materials on tables at the front of the room, and students were encouraged to use what they needed to bring their creations to life within the given time limit.
Students tracked their learning using an interactive STEAM book template in Book Creator and noted their thinking, images of their final product, a video with a description of their prototype and how it would support their user. The creations were above and beyond our expectations! One group prototyped a grocery shopping app for users with dementia using photos of store shelves to help with recall. Another group designed a wooden boardwalk for a local beach with steep access to support those with visual and ambulatory impairments. Student creations were varied and demonstrated a deep engagement with real-world issues and the needs of the users. Students also demonstrated their ability to innovate using a variety of materials combining robotics with wood and programming with photography etc.
Overall, we were more than encouraged by the experience. Students left feeling excited and inspired about STEAM and the idea of using these skills in the future. Our greatest success came from connecting our students to local mentors in STEAM fields who, in turn, inspired students to use their creative skills in real-world applications. As we look ahead to our next event, we’re excited to build on this momentum and continue empowering student leaders to innovate, collaborate, and make meaningful contributions to their communities.
Sarah Coull is a teacher-librarian on Vancouver Island, BC in the Comox Valley School District. With a fervent passion for lifelong learning, she works to make the library the heart of the school, fully integrated into the learning community. Sarah is a bread baker, an avid reader and spends her time hiking, skiing, and swimming in the stunning Comox Valley.
Emily Pontus is a teacher-librarian in SD 71 Comox Valley. She is a passionate advocate for technology and aims to bring innovation and curiosity to every lesson. When not reading, she enjoys mountain biking and spending time with her family.