The event proved to be of high interest to the 25 professional educators (teachers and lecturers) who took time off on a Saturday to discuss specific avenues to encourage and motivate students in STEAM. Persons from the following institutions, represented the various kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary educational levels:
- Bishops Anstey High School East
- Holy Name Convent Port-of-Spain
- Holy Name Preparatory School
- International School of Port-of-Spain
- Maple Leaf International School
- Montessori Academy of Trinidad & Tobago
- NIHERST (National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology)
- NorthGate College
- St. Joesph's Convent Port-of-Spain
- The British Academy
- University of the West Indies (UWI) Creative & Festival Arts Department
- University of the West Indies (UWI) Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
Each teacher received a specific package comprising of a pen, the IET Education Package and the IET Education Programme and each school was given a pack containing the IET Young Professional Global Challeng Fan and Poster, as well as the IET Women's Network "Women in Engineering" Poster and roll and a notepad. This demonstrated the various educational elements of the IET as well as our Local Network's committment to STEAM.
Other intersted educators as well as persons from the BG STEM group and BG Trinidad & Tobago were present and engaged in this interactive environment to advance the promotion of STEAM in Trinidad & Tobago.
During the open forum discussion, there were several key elements identified as issues to be overcome as well as suggestions and strategies that can be effective, despite the limitations created by the existing curriculum:
- Students can not critically think; they are parrots; their creativity is "killed"
- Focus on younger children, aged 3 to 6yrs
- Be 'hands-on'
- Issues regarding the "nitty-gritty" of the school's curriculum
- Teachers feel trapped within the scope and demands of the curriculum
- Teachers may feel uncomfortable being 'out-of-the-box' regarding the curriculum
- Success of events as "hour of code" and to consider similar "hour of..." events to reduce time to plan and implement
- Suggested programme of 'teachers training teachers'
- Implementation of an "activity day" whereby the focus is on problem solving
- Focus on the 'parent support groups' to gain support and to encourage change within the school
The event demonstrated that educators are passionate about empowering children and creating an environment to encourage and motivate them so that they become effective contributors in society. This is clearly mirrored by the IET's key phrases of "IET is working to engineer a better world. We inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community, supporting technology innovation to meet the needs of society".
The first part of the event was introducing the IET and the IET Trinidad & Tobago Local Network to the teachers and lecturers as well as highlighting the key educational achievements in Trinidad, those being the Present Around The World events and accomplishments (including being the host of the 2015 IET PATW America's Regional Finals) and the recent accreditation, by the IET, of the UWI Electrical & Computer Engineering degree programmes.
(Kathy Ann Baynes, Lead HR Adviser - Learning & Development, of BG TT, conducts the HSE Safety Briefing)
(Leslie Bowrin, of BG TT STEM, address the audience and informs them of the various activities and goals of the STEM group)
(Cross-section of the audience watching the IET brands campaign)
(VC of the IET TT LN YPS, Joshua Durham, speaks on behalf of young professionals and students engaging in STEAM)
(Dr. Musti Sastry, Lecturer in the UWI Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, addresses the educators and speaks about the importance of mathematics in engineering as well as teachers training teachers)
Many teachers found the IET Faraday Day video interesting and exciting and some expressed an interest in having such an event for their students. Everyone appreciated and noted the benefit of the resources provided by the IET Faraday website, although the general comment was in respecct to having the resources of time, money and location to be able to execute similar events given their existing constraints.
(Lesley-Ann Noel, Lecturer in the UWI Creative & Festival Arts Department, highlights the importance of adding "Art" to STEM as well as noting that their department has a strong engineering and technological component)
(Nadia Chuckaree, teacher at the International School of Port-of-Spain, highlights key aspects regarding STEAM and how they are able to engage their students)
(Paul Pickard, teacher at the Maple Leaf International School, highlighted their development of the "hour of code" and suggested having smaller workshops designed around the same "hour" timeframe, to reduce the constraints on the teachers)
(Indira Jagoo-Teloka, teacher at the British Academy, discusses a point with the other teachers and lecturers during the open forum discussion)
(Hayden Newallo, teacher at the British Academy, notes that teachers should not be comfortable with the existing curriculum and that they should embrace new methods to engage students)
(Members of the IET TT LN & YPS executives, Anarion Mason, Sean Ocho and Greg Manohar)
(Executive members Anthony Chadee, Jusha Durham and Anarion Mason)
In all, the event attracted a total of just over 40 persons, each of whom had an interest in STEAM and/or the IET.
Snap shots of the audience during the launch and open forum discussions.
One of the key parts of an IET event is the networking that is achieved and this forum provided an opportunity for educators to interact with teachers/lecturers of different schools as well as with persons in industry.
(Chair Anthony Chadee engages with persons from NIHERST)
Special thanks must again be given to the members of BG Trindad & Tobago, especially Kathy Ann Baynes, who was instrumental in providing the location as well as enabling the venue to be setup the day before.
(Venue the day before the event)
(IET Educational Packages (and posters) for the teachers and lecturers)
