In an era where STEAM skills are more critical than ever, Eaton House The Manor Girls’ School is leading the way with a dynamic, hands-on approach to learning that ignites girls’ passion for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.
‘Combining multiple subjects in this way helps to include every girl, whatever their interests may be, and shows them how they intertwine in real world scenarios,’ says Mr Stuart Wilson, Head of Science and Technology at Eaton House The Manor Girls’ School.
‘Our annual STEAM week celebrates the collaboration of the different STEAM subjects with cross curricular lessons based on a singular theme,’ he says. ‘We choose a theme such as ‘Time’, for example, and make sundials, water clocks and pendulums. We also imagined travelling through time into the past and future for story competition, among other things.’
‘Also during STEAM week we had a team from Inventors and Makers who came to deliver practical engineering workshops,’ he says. ‘This involved making and creating various simple machines and testing them out.’
Underpinning this programme is a desire to inspire the girls in their future careers. ‘Running through all of this we try to teach about real scientists and engineers, especially women’ says Mr Wilson. ‘I know it’s important that girls have strong role models to look up to, so I make sure at least 50% of the scientists I teach about in the science curriculum are women, such as Mary Anning, Ruth Benerito and Jane Goodall. Even our lab is named after Rosalind Franklin.’
Fun tasks throughout the year show how disciplines intertwine with each other. Form 1 make castles with junk modelling, drawing on a blend of engineering, technology and science. They also follow instructions to create grass head people using an blend of science and art. Another really enjoyable task is to design a seagull-proof lunch box using a blend of technology, engineering and art. We also have a project that involves advertisement writing called ‘Design a Bed fit for a Princess’ which involves technology, engineering and art.
Form 2 might design and make a 3D rocket using recyclable construction materials including gems, glitter and paint. This supports the disciplines of technology and art. One of their favourite tasks is to design and make a sarcophagus with moving parts, fusing skills from technology, art, history and engineering. Finally, using all their technological skills they make 3D paper lanterns using cards.
Making Roman numerals with paper straws challenges Form 3 in Engineering and Maths and making 3D shapes using toothpicks and playdough adding in their science skills as well. When it comes to using their engineering science skills making bridges using newspapers is a real testFor Form 4, one of the highlights of the year is to build an exploding volcano using technology and science skills. Another favourite is our ‘Excavate a Lego City’ project which uses all our technology, art and history skills, as is ‘Design and Build a Shoebox’ using technology and art.
At Christmas time, Form 5 design a Christmas stocking and they also ‘Build a Playground’ using Technology, Art and Science. Stepping things up a gear, Form 6 make water turbines using cardboard, plastic teaspoons, a cotton reel and a pencil. This allows them to explore how they can harness energy from moving water using engineering and technology. They also complete a challenge in groups to create a famous building out of straws and sellotape. This task, which requires them to use technology well, involves many creative solutions. We also use the same technique to create bridges an use engineering skills to make Andersen shelters out of paper.
In addition to this, Form 6 girls have a STEAM lesson in the later part of the year, to focus on practical problem-solving activities. For part of the time they complete a series of tasks using Lego SPIKE Education kits that combine Lego construction with coding. These kits are also used in the other years of KS2 for single lesson projects linking with topics, such as earthquakes in Form 4.
The other project that Form 6 girls do is linked to the UN’s sustainable development goals, in which they learn about the impact of climate change on island communities and design and test different structures and materials for building houses that can withstand floods. This is a subject dear to the girls’ hearts and it is always an important challenge.
Mrs Claire Fildes, Headmistress, Eaton House The Manor Girls’ School says, ‘At Eaton House The Manor Girls’ School we support ‘sky-is-the limit’ learning, especially in subjects like STEAM.’ It is important to her that ‘We build the girls’ confidence with exciting; practical lessons that help them to problem solve and have a can-do attitude. As a result, they all love science.’
