Current STEM Sessions

Stage 1 (Grades 1 and 2)

We learn about some everyday materials and how they can be changed or combined in useful ways. These materials will be already familiar to many of us because they are used in building our homes or for cooking in our kitchens (for example, sand and sugar).

Our work this term will be just as hands-on (if not more so) as in the last three: we'll be touching, mixing, wetting, dissolving and kneeding. Before any activity, we might be making predictions about how our actions change the properties of a substance. Now, how does it look, feel or smell? 

Stage 2 (Grades 3 and 4)

What do we know about the solar system? In particular, what is the relationship between the sun and Earth? We will learn about how regular changes -- day and night, the changing seasons -- can be explained by this relationship.

Students will represent their own conception of the solar system before we look at various models of it. By taking a stroll in the park and dropping different size balls at specific intervals, the amazing scale of the solar system will make an impression on us.

To better incorporate a STEM angle, there'll be time to explore our planetary neighbour, Mars, and think about the incredible engineering mission involved in landing rovers such as Curiosity on its surface.

Stage 3 (Grades 5 and 6)

​This term, we will describe the features and adaptations of some living things. We will also consider how characteristics of the physical environment may help or hinder the growth or survival of particular plants and animals 

In class, there'll be an opportunity to observe and record the growth of seeds under different environmental conditions. We may also be able to examine the impact of the environment on relatively simple organisms such as yeast, worms and insects.

On a global scale, we will learn about how the activities of our own species have changed the biosphere and influenced the populations of other living things.