STEAM punky

Question

I was suggested to post my current project here to get some feedback. Hopefully this is the right forum to do so. I created an afterschool club, vulnerable adult activity, or simple club with the theme of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Maths). The idea being a bit forward from codeclubs or kit making clubs where people follow tutorials and guidance we just punk it and wing it. The flow would be as follows: before starting the club people write ideas for projects things that help local communities are encouraged. No such thing as bad ideas. Then we get all together in a room with post-its and white boards and just brain dump the ideas. Then the ideas are grouped by theme for example (environment, health politics). Then voting goes to one of the preferred groups. Then further merging and further voting until a project is chosen. After that, we simplify the project to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). And start working in teams. Teams would have different background, ages, skill sets (aka diverse) so the trick is not to have star performers and not to leave anybody behind. Star performers should be able to slow down and explain what they are doing to the others. I have attached an open letter to local I have started sending. So I have started trying this out. My questions are: * Is this a good idea? * Should I team up with local codeclubs and similar groups such as firestarter? * Has this been done before, any success/failure stories around? 
 Attachments: C4AD-letter-STEAM-PUNKY-v3.pdf

amunizp · Accepted Answer

I just realized I did not report back. I think it went rather well: https://gitlab.com/STEAMpunky https://c4ad.eu/blog/steampunky/ I am planning to do more next year hopefully. It will evolve a bit to give more focus in the case of primary schools.

DAB · Answer

Hi Andres,

Interesting idea.

You will have to let us know how well the community responds to your letter.

Getting everyone focused on a single project is a good idea, just be aware that some people may lose interest if their pet project is not selected and drop out.

Sometimes leading a team is like herding cats. Lots of noise and everyone scatters off on their own.

I think you will find that breaking tasks down into very simple and quick steps will work the best. They also help build confidence among the team members while everyone figures out where they fit.

DAB

genebren · Answer

Andres, I really like the idea. There are so many ways to introduce the STEAM concepts to kids, but solving an actual problem or focusing on a project is probably the best way to go. Have a goal is one of the best motivations that I know of to create an environment for learning. While I can't say if this has been done before, or how to best organize your groups, it does seem like a good start. I wish you the best of luck on this effort. There are some other people within this community that are working with children to teach them engineering principles through projects, so maybe some of them will chime in and give you some good ideas on how best to proceed.

STEAM punky

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