OVERVIEW
Most often STEM classes are a burden for teachers, students and parents alike. What STEM providers call as hands-on learning, does not remotely co-relate to the curriculum the school is aligned to. Students are confused with two sets of learning materials which teach them different concepts, while teachers find it very challenging to cope with student’s anxieties. Even the Teaching Learning Material (TLM) of most STEM providers doesn’t accomplish the foremost goal of hands-on learning. We at Atlab STEM academy have researched many methodologies of delivering STEM to school and finally accomplished a methodology that not only closes the gaps that are present in delivering STEM to schools, but have gone further to enable a holistic learning environment for students across curriculums – be it CBSE, CBSE-I, ICSE, IGCSE or International Curriculum.
Each session of the Atlab STEM Academy course contains cooperative learning activities. Every unit includes hands-on experiences and two authentic performance assessments completed by the teacher. Discovery Days are conducted at the end of every rotation. These teacher-directed activities are designed to augment the STEM content, provide opportunities for whole-class participation, and allow students additional time to review or complete unfinished assignments.
Students work with a partner to complete the curriculum, the experiences they share promote positive communication, teamwork, inquiry based learning, and social skills. Atlab has designed its activities to fit STEM into your school's curriculum, be it during school hours or post school hours. Based on the format agreed upon, Atlab would draw up a time table.
We have a dedicated team of highly qualified professionals who create and customize comprehensive STEM based Teaching-Learning-Materials for CBSE,CBSE-I, ICSE, IGCSE and International Curriculum. Unlike other STEM providers Atlab STEM has extensive Do-it-Yourself kits that are focused on acquiring and testing knowledge in multiple subjects at the same time.
The course is divided into flexible three, six or eight-week units, adaptable to the classroom, lab, or almost any educational environment. Units can be used in any number and order to achieve the school’s goals and requirements. Teachers lead the activities and have full control of the curriculum. Hands-on projects teach students practical skills and how to use basic tools. Healthy competitions and creative challenges which are a part of the STEM Curriculum develop critical thinking in students.
Atlab STEM Academy's partner school will be supported right from setting up the Atlab STEM classrooms to training teachers, so as to gear up to Atlab STEM based teaching, while providing all necessary consumables all through the year. The schools will be provided with:
- Tools and materials - Classroom-appropriate equipment and tools will be supplied as part of the Academy unit.
- Instructional DVDs – Instructional DVDs accompany the building activities. The DVD will use a master teacher or specialist to describe and demonstrate each of the steps required in each activity/construction project. These video clips will serve as a principal source of process instruction and will reinforce content of activity instructions.
- Academy Start-up Package -Tools and common supplies needed across several academy units will be provided. The start-up package eliminates duplicated equipment and tools by providing the essential materials needed for the experience. It contains common textbooks, DVDs and other basic resources.
- Teacher Guides - The teacher guide contains both basic and advanced lesson plans. Basic lesson plans provide a more guided approach to instruction, while advanced lesson plans are more open-ended. All lesson plans can be used to extend students’ understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math concepts using the hands on activities. Each teacher guide will include the following elements:
- Resource Material supplements that facilitate understanding of core content and include vocabulary, puzzles, assessments, and content fact sheets.
- Construction Quick View lists the required materials for the hands-on construction activity and a reference to the detailed instruction guide.
- Teaching Tips cover areas such as safety, construction tips/helpful hints, materials by activity, and troubleshooting.
- Teacher lesson plans, for each activity and an engineering challenge, include a quick view, standards addressed, time required for activity completion, content area (math, science, technology, engineering, and so forth), essential vocabulary, material listing with picture, and detailed procedures for teacher instruction.
- Student instructions, for each activity and an engineering challenge, including a quick view, material listing with picture, procedure for construction activity, and reproducible worksheets.
- Supplemental lessons include suggested additional activities related to the project.