SCORES of nursery, primary and secondary school students of Region 10 on Friday were joined by their parents, teachers and education officers at STEAMS Explosion.

The event was hosted by the Department of Education in observance of Education Month and commenced with a march on Burnham Drive.This was followed by the viewing of several colourful and creative exhibits featuring STEAMS: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Spirituality. It was held under the theme, “Education for a good life through innovations and STEAMS.”

The teachers who worked tirelessly on the game-based projects were able to showcase their innovative skills and how same is incorporated into the classroom. The objective of the STEAM explosion was to illustrate how fun and creative learning can be, through STEAMS and therefore, the traditional ‘chalk and black board’ mechanism is gradually becoming non-existent.

Regional Education Officer (ag) Keane Adams, said the event seeks to inspire teachers to embrace the advent of STEAMS. “It is hoped that we will be inspired because after inspiration comes revelation; when we are inspired, we are empowered to perform and this performance will manifest itself through contribution.” She said that the department will continue to provide quality education by supporting STEAM-based learning, which will impact the lives of teachers, parents and most importantly students, who will enjoy an interactive educational experience.

Regional Education Officer Shivon Greene Brewster, emphasised the spirituality aspect of STEAMS, which is the latest addition to STEAM which was previously STEM. Spirituality, she said, focuses on the state or quality of being, dedicated to God. “Religion and spiritual things are valued, especially as contrasted to material things,” she posited.

The exhibits were for all three levels of learning: nursery, primary and secondary. The music department as well as the special needs department also showcased how learning is best done through STEAMS. Numeracy and literacy topics were transformed into innovative games, which captured the attention of students, who were all busy trying to solve the problems. Nursery school teacher Marcia Henry explained that the games make the classroom more fun.

“Because these things are so attractive, the child is drawn to it, you are able to associate things, objects and shapes and you must make teaching fun; when you make teaching fun, the children want to learn, want to come to school, so instead of doing traditional classroom things, you are now doing games, so you are having fun while you are learning,” she said.