DEVELOPMENT OF STEAM TOOLKITS
The STEAM School Toolkit is carefully designed to provide practical, hands-on resources that align seamlessly with Nepal’s current national curriculum. This toolkit uniquely incorporates elements of Nepal’s rich ethnic culture and festivals, weaving in short stories, artistic connections, and a sense of belonging into every activity. The activities are multidisciplinary. integrating Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, and Technology to promote holistic learning.
Selection of Schools in the Lalitpur Area
The team gathered data on 40 community and government schools in the Lalitpur area from the Lalitpur Metropolitan Education Bulletin 2079/80. Project facilitators initially strategized to select two girls schools from the Lalitpur area. However, from initial research and multiple conversations with school representatives, most schools are now Co-Ed (with mixed students).
Adarsha Kanya Niketan Higher Secondary School (Adarsha) was chosen because it is the only girls-only community and government school in the Lalitpur district.
The second school included is Shree Harisiddhi Secondary School (Harisiddhi). This school is particularly relevant to the project’s ethos because it is the only community and government School in Harisiddhi (Lalitpur Metropolitan City Ward No. 28) and the majority of students are girls.
Principals Mr. Shailesh Kumar Pradhan (Adarsha) and Mrs. Ashadevi Maharjan (Harisiddhi) from both schools expressed strong enthusiasm for participating in the project, recognizing its potential to provide sustainable solutions for STEAM education by empowering both teachers and students.
Challenges and Pain Points Faced by Teachers and School Leadership
Initial interviews were conducted with the leadership and teachers of both schools to understand the school’s needs, and possible educational and resource gaps about STEAM disciplines. One of the pain points highlighted by the teachers was the lack of resources in the school and the struggle for the school to manage the resources to make them inclusive for all students and to be accessed individually by the students. While the current national curriculum includes activities that apply conceptual knowledge, it remains largely theoretical regarding actual classroom teaching and time management. Teachers have a burden to finish the curriculum within the schedule and have limited time to complete all of the hands-on learning activities.
Another challenge is that students from low-income families often lack parental support at home. With parents busy working throughout the day, children, particularly girls, take on additional household responsibilities, making it difficult for them to focus on their studies at home.
When asked about how girls performed in comparison to boys in technical subjects such as Science, and Mathematics using critical thinking, and problem solving skills, teachers said girls are more motivated to learn, are able to follow instructions, and perform academically as equally as boys. However, when it comes to practical applications, boys readily took more risks. Social and cultural barriers do come into play here since sons are more encouraged to freely play, learn, and explore their environment while daughters are expected to stay home and help with domestic chores.
Development and testing of the STEAM Education ToolKit
The STEAM School Toolkit is carefully designed to provide practical, hands-on resources that align seamlessly with Nepal’s current national curriculum. This toolkit uniquely incorporates elements of Nepal’s rich ethnic culture and festivals, weaving in short stories, artistic connections, and a sense of belonging into every activity. The activities are multidisciplinary. integrating Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, and Technology to promote holistic learning.
The STEAM School Toolkit includes:
– Three student booklets, each featuring activities based on distinct themes and elements of the national curriculum
– One teacher’s guidebook to facilitate effective STEAM sessions
– Open kit box of STEAM activity materials
The STEAM Education toolkit was tested extensively in real classrooms with educators. Teachers were provided with several training sessions to help them understand how to effectively implement the toolkit in their classrooms. Each session included plenty of hands-on activities and was followed with reflective questions. The main objective of these questions was to promote a reflective learning cycle through which the learning and understanding of the concept are acquired more effectively. The feedback played a crucial role in shaping the final design and refining the activities to make them more engaging, practical, and impactful for students. This also helped assess whether the activities are suitable for students and whether any adjustments are needed such as adding or removing certain elements to enhance the toolkit’s effectiveness and ensure they meet classroom needs.
