More than School
Would you like a day tour at a STEAM school? The day will definitely be filled with excitement. Hear out what Triple-A, Christmas doors, and microbytes, the school’s FabLab, and Vesala Open have to say about it!
There’s a hustle in the classroom. Aatu, Aaron, and Alvar are adjusting the last wires by the classroom door.
“Three As, like on batteries”, teacher Anneli Lietsalmi laughs.
The three energetic boys are not working on just any wires, and the door is not just any door. They are finishing up the place of honor: it is Ylikiiminki School’s Vesala Unit’s silver medal door.
“We won second place at the Christmas Door competition”, the three As explain.
Everyone is excited. But can one detect a hint of disappointment in the air? The students have already told the guests that they lost the gold to the sixth grade by only one point.
“It is because the sixth graders bribed the preschoolers to vote for them with chocolate”, the three As specify.
Be that as it may, the silver-winning door is magnificent. Aatu, Aaron, and Alvar made sure that LED lights twinkle in the decorations. The door that participated in the competition is the whole class’s shared project.
“We have been so excited that students have stayed behind to work on the door even after school”, teacher Anneli Lietsalmi says.
One of the three As mentions that he made similar LED decorations at home too.
Where do the ideas come from?
Teacher Anneli Lietsalmi explains that originally the Christmas Door project was supposed to be much smaller, but the project grew and grew when we worked on it together.
“Projects do not need to be planned from beginning to end. Especially when working with children, plans are allowed to change”, Lietsalmi highlights.
Let’s consider a concrete example. Originally, the Christmas door was supposed to cover only one of the double doors.
“But then the girls came up with a great idea”, Lietsalmi explains and gestures towards Eevi and Kaisla sitting by the coat hooks.
Where do the ideas come from?
“We got it from Pinterest”, the fourth-grade girls answer.
‘It’ refers to the left door of the double doors on which Santa Claus and a snowman stand faceless. The girls slip through the doors. Suddenly their faces are shining on the empty faces of the characters. Both are smiling happily and proudly.
“When inspiration strikes the children, it is the best,” the school’s Vice Director Perttu Hämäläinen says as he appears.
Scarecrows were supposed to be robots
During the fall, the fourth grade’s main project was a ‘fuss at the farm’ as teacher Lietsalmi describes it with a laugh.
“We built scarecrows. We collected old rags and set them up in the student garden,” Eevi and Kaisla explain.
The project was experimental as well. The scarecrows were supposed to be robots that would scare birds by making sounds and moving.
The project could not be finished in practice: the robot phase was finished with LEGO robots. However, the goal of STEAM pedagogy is not always the final product, but what creating that product entails. In the scarecrow project, the goal was to figure out how real robot scarecrows could be made with student skills.
Everybody tinkers, builds, and teaches
The Ylikiiminki School’s Vesala Unit, previously known as Vesala School, is one of the six schools in Oulu that participated in the STEAM project and have implemented STEAM pedagogy from the start. After the Ylikiiminki School and Vesala School merged, both have utilized STEAM heavily. Excitement has been high. You can see it everywhere – both in the students and the teachers.
Sanna Mäkelä teaches the sixth grade. Yes, the class that won first place in the Christmas Door competition.
“With STEAM, we can form coherent totalities of different subjects. Teaching totalities instead of individual classes gives students and teachers a lot more”, Mäkelä states.
According to Mäkelä, her sixth grade can see the great results teaching in modules brings about.
The winning Christmas door is presented by Leevi, Oskari, Ilari, Jouka, and Elja. In front of the door stands a house, a home for elves, which the class built a couple years earlier for another project. Recycling at its finest.
The boys were responsible for the LED lights of the Christmas stars. Demonstrating the lights is easy and immediate. There is a coding program on the laptop which the boys use to program – what now?
“We can write anything. This used to read ‘Merry Christmas’ in Finnish and in Swedish.”
True! Letters begin to shine one by one, formulating the phrase G O D J U L.
According to Mäkelä, the best part about communal learning is students teaching each other. STEAM is shared creation, learning, and practicing these skills gradually. For teachers, STEAM is a method for increasing everyday learning and active participation for students.
“The teacher’s role is mostly guidance, keeping the group together, and supporting interaction”, Mäkelä explains.
Vesala Open – meeting of generations
Vesala Community Centre has had its own Makerspace, known as Tuunaamo, since it was finished in 2010. In 2017, Tuunaamo officially became a FabLab. It is the first official elementary school FabLab.
Vice Director Perttu Hämäläinen is happy, excited, and thankful for what Tuunaamo and the entire school mean to the city and the people living in Vesala. It all culminates in shared events, such as Vesala Open. During the event, all school facilities – including Tuunaamo and the school gym – are open to anyone, from babies to grandparents.
According to Hämäläinen, the atmosphere is unique when generations come together. It connects younger and older citizens while inviting children and youth to participate. Many young people get to show their skills and guide adults.
Cooperation makes events like Vesala Open possible. Different operators, such as the very active village association, Youth Services, and the parish participate in the event.
Hämäläinen shows photos of creations made in a joint project between the daycare centre, school, and citizens last spring: plant boxes built in the river coast garden. During the holidays, the garden was looked after by the community.
“To us, school is more than just school”, Hämäläinen sums up.
It is a good line to end with.