Engineering
Congratulations
The Engineering Program in Kingswood Primary School featured in the Victorian Department of Education and Training School Bulletin in May. Well done to Mr. Mirabella for his work setting up the program in 2016 and to Mrs. McLean for taking over the program this year.
Mr. Mirabella was interviewed for the article. Read the article below.
STEAMing ahead: Engineering at Kingswood Primary School
To broaden the experience of their students, Kingswood Primary School is taking a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) approach to teaching with the introduction of their engineering program.
The primary school has introduced an engineering subject for Years 5 and 6 students to encourage problem solving, innovative thinking and collaboration.
Teacher and program developer Luke Mirabella said subjects like these are becoming more mainstream in nature.
‘At Kingswood, we believe that we are priming our students for life beyond school and learning about Engineering, as well as the other STEAM domains, provides our students with valuable life skills, knowledge and technological experience,’ he said.
‘There is only one small reference to Engineering in the Victorian Curriculum, so I developed my unit plans around the Design and Technologies curriculum focusing on the ‘Creating Designed Solutions’ content descriptor.’
Students are presented with problems and the materials to solve them, and outcomes are related back to physical laws and engineering concepts.
‘Engineering has incredible real world applications, and students gain a greater understanding of physical forces and have fun engaging in challenging, hands on and relevant activities.’
‘It’s great when unexpected outcomes are celebrated. This is where the deepest learning experiences take place,’ Luke said.
Projects are run on a termly basis and students are assessed at each stage of the process.
‘Each group approaches the activity from a different angle, depending on its members – some draw their design before beginning construction, others have their computers out researching designs used in the past, and some are simply experimenting with the materials they have in front of them.’
The school also teaches coding and robotics programs and a specialist science subject.
‘Student results remain the most important criteria for success, and our students have been extremely positive about engineering in their reflection forms. This has also helped to guide our planning of future topics.’
‘We think teaching engineering will open up opportunities for our students and provided them an early experience to hopefully fall in love with science,’ he said.