Outcomes
Staff at Winfield City Schools meet on a frequent and regular basis to review the work being done at the school as well as to plan ways to improve the STEAM experiences offered to our students. during these meetings, the focus is to enhance teachers' pedagogical knowledge and practice with the latest educational technologies. Teachers throughout the building meet together to review and refine school procedures and protocols.
Common planning time has been established in order to allow teachers the opportunity to collaborate, plan and adjust integrated STEAM learning experiences. In addition to daily common planning time, vertical and horizontal planning occurs periodically throughout the year. The results of these meetings are evidenced in many cross-curricular projects and activities that also include multi-level grades.
In order to prepare students to be global thinkers and learners, Winfield City Schools incorporates STEAM literacy into all academic areas throughout inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning allows students to pose questions or problems and then apply concepts from science, technology, engineering, and math in order to solve the problem. The success of this approach is evidenced by several indicators.
Qualitative information is obtained through observation of student engagement and interests in the activities that originate through the STEAM initiatives. Beginning in our preschool classes, students are exposed to coding and robotics. This skill is expanded and enhanced, as developmentally appropriate through high school, culminating with competitive rocketry and robotics teams. For example, students practice coding via a Code & Go Mouse, Bee-Bots, Dash-N-Dot, Sperobot, and Cubelet, as they advance to both VEX-IQ and BEST Robotics.
By using an inquiry approach, teachers become facilitators of learning. The success of Winfield City School System's approach to student learning is reflected in the school's assessment scores in all academic areas as well as the increase in student interest in the areas of STEAM.