Courses and level taught
This school year, the school will have 32 teachers and 303 students from 12 to 18 years of age. Our school comprises 4 years of ESO and 2 years of Baccalaureate. In the 2017-18 school year, the Teaching Departament granted our school with a STEM type group of “A” level, based on a more active role by the student. After three years and according to the academic results of our students, both in baccalaureate and in Selectivitat (university access examinations), the STEM baccalaureate is now a consolidated and successful project.
Background and experience
The school features a great degree of commitment to innovation. Integrated language treatment, the use of foreign languages in non-linguistic subjects, the learning of German and Chinese, exchanges with institutions from all over Europe, the integrated work of the various subjects in 3 areas of knowledge ("àmbits") in 8th and 9th grades (1st and 2nd years of ESO): areas of expression, humanities and STEM. These along with the STEM baccalaureate are clear examples of such innovating impulse.
In addition, since the 2017-18 school year, the school has also been part of the Department of Education’s STEAMcat innovation program. Being part of this project implies a great dynamization of the role of STEM subjects in the school, giving them a very relevant role in the school pedagogical project.
Skills and knowledge
The teachers who work at Institut Sunsi Móra are used to integrating different areas of knowledge among subjects. It becomes especially relevant in teachers of the first two ESO years, where all subjects are distributed in 3 main areas, the so-called "àmbits". Thus, the ability to work elbow to elbow becomes essential in our school and ends up with very hard-working and resolutive teams.
The emotional guidance of our youngsters is also a distinguishing feature of the Sunsi Móra. We are aware of our enormous responsibility, not only from an academic but specially from an emotional point of view. All homeroom teachers carry out devotional work in each and every group at our school.
At our school you can learn in several languages. Spanish, Catalan and English are social languages and German and Chinese are taught as second and third foreing languages, respectively, thus contributing to shape open-minded students.
What do we want to learn/achieve with this STEAMcat+ project?
Our main objective is to learn how STEM methodology, contents and perspectives are treated in other schools. This need was initially addressed by participating in the STEAMcat plan, which gave us the opportunity to interact with many other Catalan primary and secondary schools that showed the same inquisitiveness. Thus, being part of the STEAMcat+ project is a natural follow-up in our search for continuous learning and improvement. As teachers, we strongly believe that peer observation is an essential tool to enrich our professional activity. It is a common practice in our school, especially in the first two years of ESO (8th and 9th grades), where you can find teachers sharing the same class. Should this interaction take place between teachers from different countries - which involves different languages, different curricula, learning contexts and methodologies - the experience could be even more enriching.
Moreover, the participation in the mini-consortium could mean being part of a new learning network, where interesting interactions can take place opening a range of new future opportunities.
What can we offer as a STEAM school?
As a STEAM school, Institut Sunsi Móra can offer its experience working on STEAM methodology from different approaches, such as the integrated work in the STEM area or the projects in the STEM baccalaureate.
Since the 2017-18 school year we have been working in a cross curricular manner on three main goals: to raise awareness of the role of women in science and technology, to strengthen STEM vocations in all our students and to increase interactions with other members of the educational community. Year after year, we work to accomplish all these objectives, and the resulting experience and expertise are our best offerings to whoever wants to visit us.
