STEMreach
STEMreach is a major STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) initiative by Calmast. The initiative was developed to provide sustained engagement through partnership in the South-East in Ireland. STEMreach connects higher education, industry, governmental and non-governmental bodies with primary and post-primary schools and wider society and is designed to benefit educational attainment, economy and culture in the region. A key component is linking students with industry partners through careers talks and workshops. STEMreach is an effective way of engaging learners with all areas of STEM.
Based on peer learning, younger pupils learn from and with older students. Starting with a pilot in 2017, STEMreach was well received by teachers and students. The Calmast led initiative has quickly grown to include many different programmes with several thousand students and pupils involved annually. Each programme runs for a period of six weeks. In this time, TY (transition year) students research a particular topic in STEM. Guided by their teachers, industry partners and SETU staff, they learn about science communication and develop lesson plans and activities for 1st year students and/or primary pupils before working with their younger peers.
Together, the TY students and the younger pupils further explore various STEM subjects including the STEMreach Problem Solving programme. Implemented in 2018, the STEMreach Problem Solving Programme was found to strongly encourage a positive attitude towards maths, to increase the participants’ confidence in their own abilities and to develop their problem solving skills while also promoting creativity and supporting personal development.
STEMreach connects higher education, industry, governmental and non-governmental bodies with primary and post-primary schools and wider society and is designed to benefit educational attainment, economy and culture in the region.
Dr. Sheila Donegan, CalmastRead about our STEMReach Sustained Engagement Programme in our online book HERE
STEMreach Programmes
STEMreach Sustainability; Our Future, Your Story
Use the left and right arrows to check out a selection of videos produced by this year’s TY students in 2021
STEMreach Sustainability; Our Future, Your Story focuses on sustainability and biodiversity using the medium of digital storytelling. Through engineering, positive action, conservation, science and creating a personal and communal culture of change, the programme aims to create awareness and empowers students to think creatively and critically about the world around them. It culminates with Transition Year students who showcase a video and activity they have produced to communicate a message about sustainability to their local primary school and community.
STEMreach Paired Science
STEMreach Paired Science was developed by Collette Kearney, science teacher MT Sion, and delivered by Calmast to primary and secondary schools. The programme pairs one TY secondary pupil and one primary pupil in science investigation. Initially, the TY students take part in a STEM training programme developed by Calmast dealing with child safety, Health and Safety and communicating science effectively. Over the course of six weeks, the pair work together with the older pupils taking the lead to teach their primary partners about a defined topic.
This requires the older students to research the topic, to carefully think about how to structure the one-on-one class, how to communicate with their partner, how to present science activities to a primary school pupil in an engaging and relevant manner. Topics included in the 6 week programme are learning about the local pharma company Sanofi, a specific illness and a pharmaceutical product that Sanofi produce to treat the illness. The students also learnt about health and safety and did some science investigations. STEMreach Paired Science finishes with a giant class of almost 500 pupils with all participating pairs working together in one large paired science session followed by an award ceremony to recognise the students’ achievements. This creates a sense of community. Thus, STEMreach Paired Science at once strengthens communication skills, contributes to the participants’ personal development and significantly builds their STEM awareness.
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Flying the Flag for Girls in Engineering
Calmast led a STEM event for the Catholic Guides of Ireland’s South East Region to celebrate their 90th anniversary. As part of Engineers Week 2019 we devised a special Guides Engineering Activity. Special thanks to WIT Engineering lecturers Susan Gallagher (Civil Engineer) and Mary Doyle Kent (Mechanical Engineer) who led the sessions and our last years TY students Dara and Jack who assisted.
Plastics: The good, the bad and the ugly
This major STEAM project ran at Garter Lane Arts Centre in 2019.
It explored the science and environmental impacts of plastics and was seen by over 1,000 visitors. Transition Year pupils from Presentation Secondary School Waterford working with Presentation Primary 6th Class pupils to explore these issues through science and art under the guidance of artist, Rachel Smith.