{"id":4481,"date":"2020-08-18T14:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technocamps.com\/?p=4481"},"modified":"2020-11-04T15:13:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:13:04","slug":"wow-what-a-summer-of-stem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technocamps.com\/en\/2020\/08\/18\/wow-what-a-summer-of-stem\/","title":{"rendered":"WOW! What a Summer of STEM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The school holidays have been a bit different this year, with pupils from all parts of Wales enjoying an extended break after months of enforced lockdown learning online. It seems, though, that some pupils can\u2019t get enough of science and technology. We were completely bowled over with the response to our FREE Summer of STEM event which took place over the last three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over 500 pupils aged 9-16 signed up to join fifteen days of fun learning. Averaging 100 participants on a Zoom call each day, our Delivery Team were certainly kept busy making sure they answered all questions and dealt with any difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using everyday items from around the house and a connected device, pupils were able to learn about the wonders of Wi-Fi, ethical hacking, and how forces work \u2013 these topics amongst an endless list of incredible sessions to choose from. They even learnt how to make a \u2018proper\u2019 cup of tea and how to build a decent fort to drink it in! You can see some of the best efforts of our experiments and activities by following our social channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Huxley (10) and Ostyn (12) really enjoyed the sessions which were a little different from the more formal and structured approach to their learning they were used to during lockdown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mum, Nova, was particularly pleased by how much they learnt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom my point of view, it\u2019s like stealth-school. If I\u2019d tried to get them to do any of the activities, they would moan \u201cIt\u2019s like home school again\u2026\u201d, but you are all so engaging that they are getting straight on with great enthusiasm! The format you are using is brilliant and we are all impressed by how much knowledge you are sharing with us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christie, another parent, found the sessions especially beneficial for her son:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just wanted to say that Dylan really enjoyed today’s session; being on the spectrum means it’s very difficult to engage him outside his special interests – we spent most of the afternoon session exchanging Pig Pen ciphers – so today was a big win!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Each day began with an online session where one member of the Delivery Team presented the day\u2019s topic, followed by Q&A (led by one of the Delivery Team) to ensure that the youngsters were able to understand the topic and could follow the next set of instructions. Pupils were encouraged to share the results of their efforts and discoveries later in the day during the follow-up \u2018meet ups\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the second and third week, we were also able to include some late afternoon additional Coding Masterclasses for those that wanted to challenge themselves further. These were well received, allowing for further development of new skills acquired during the sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operations Manager, Stewart Powell, talked about some of the difficulties the Team had to overcome when designing a different kind of learning programme:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we started thinking about how we could take our Summer School model and put it online, we really wanted to make it accessible to all. We knew that we would have to make the sessions really engaging to keep the interest and momentum going \u2013 after all, this is the school holidays and pupils have been stuck in front of a screen for months! The Team have worked hard to come up with creative and innovative sessions \u2013 most importantly, we\u2019ve put the \u2018fun\u2019 into learning! It seems that this approach has gone down extremely well!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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