I am STEAM
I am STEAM is a Lit Up programme initiative that connects:
- 10th through 12th grade STEAM teachers and
- scientists/researchers and medical professionals
in an effort to inspire and support teachers working in Oeiras high schools in the development of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) classroom projects.
Researchers from the Católica Biomedical Research Center (CBR) and the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (FM-UCP or Católica Medical School) can offer teachers consultancy and/or other enrichment activities (seminars and others) in the context of science projects or themes typically developed in the classroom.
I am STEAM offers Oeiras Science teachers directly (and their students indirectly) the opportunity to explore cutting edge topics in biomedical research and the health sciences, and to incorporate new ideas into their educational plan and their classrooms.
In December 2022, CBR consulted high school science teachers - Biology, Physics & Chemistry and Mathematics - from several Oeiras schools on the biggest challenges they face in their classrooms, and asked them to consider which of these challenges might potentially benefit from a partnership with CBR. The more or less unanimous opinion that emanated from this informal consultation was that, sometimes, teachers find it difficult to help students to delve into a certain topic in the classroom or to really take a STEM/STEAM project to the next level when the theme - driven by the students´ interest - falls well outside the teacher´s area of expertise. In this situation, the teacher can contact the CBR´s Lit Up program and request support. In specific cases, upon a certain teacher´s request, and if there is alignment with the work and availability of its researchers, the CBR or FM-UCP can also offer project mentoring, visits to laboratories, school visits, the possibility of carrying out a small experimental component of a project and other types of support for small groups of students.
With the I am STEAM initiative, CBR hopes to forge strong teacher-scientist or teacher-health professional partnerships in which interested participating teachers are paired with researchers or health professionals who serve as a resource for the teacher during the realization of one or more projects in the classroom that can benefit from this context of consultation and integration of efforts.
CBR envisions this to be an invaluable relationship: experts - researchers and health professionals - answer questions and share their knowledge with teachers; teachers in turn increase their knowledge and ease with topics of interest to their students for which they may not have received adequate training or science/technology/health topics or areas whose progress they have not been tracking. Additionally, partner experts and teachers can make plans to visit schools and speak with students, or extend this cooperation beyond a single project and even throughout the entire school year.
Teachers interested in the 2023/2024 edition of the I am STEAM initiative of the CBR Lit Up program can register here (in portuguese only).