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STEAM 2017 Case Study The Elements of Change

In the current academic year (2016-17) the school has maintained its curriculum focus on the Global Goals for

sustainable development (SDGs). The Goals’ pledge to end poverty, everywhere, permanently applies to all

countries. In line with our vision and values, Torriano aims to increase our community’s awareness and take action

together to help make it a reality.

This year’s whole school theme was Making Connections, Making Changes, which featured cross-curricular learning

activities to develop the children’s global learning knowledge and understanding, skills and values. It was enhanced

in spring term 2017 by viewing this theme through the STEAM lens.

Our project approach is to begin by researching some of the relevant resources available and devising possible

learning sequence strategies. This results in further discussion and development by SLT with the final outcomes

agreed by senior leadership. During an INSET, the theme was presented to staff and they were asked to support its

development aided by collaboration from the curriculum development lead, curriculum co-ordinators and external

partners.

This document gives a flavour of our approach (https://torrianosteam17.wordpress.com). Further information is

available on the school website (http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk) and on the STEAM Flyer.

The lead up to the exhibition Throughout the curriculum the children explored the natural world by studying ecology (living species and their

habitats); focusing on humanity’s impact on this planet and beyond. They considered the fundamental question: In

what ways must we adjust and change our behaviour to sustain our future on Earth? This aligned with our approach

to encourage the children to consider that many futures are possible and they have a voice in determining one,

which will most benefit the common good.

The whole school was involved in activities across the curriculum; designing, coding, dancing, building, printing and

singing. There follows a summary of some of the key learning experiences, which culminated in this year’s STEAM

Exhibition: The Elements of Change.

The occasion allowed the children to both demonstrate creatively and articulate their knowledge and understanding

about the key issues. They were able to master many media in order to communicate their ambitions for our future,

essentially a respectful and sustainable coexistence with the natural world.

Visitors were taken on a journey by our children through alternative sustainable futures, made possible by a

combination of technology, imagination and creativity. Those in KS2 shared their learning about sustainable cities,

through biochemistry to eliminating waste in space and those in KS1 explored habitats and climate change. Visitors

had opportunities to familiarise themselves with the Periodic Table, have Big Conversations, raise Big Questions and

sustain themselves throughout with produce from The Waste Café; cricket brownies and pizzas, as ever, proved

popular!

Some thumbnails of the different year groups’ activities follow. Their learning, across many formats, was featured in

the full exhibition. Further information is available on the school website.

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EYFS - Responsible Consumption: Don’t Waste the Waste!

http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/team-recycle/

EYFS prepared for STEAM by finding out how, why and where

we recycle our waste. They soon appreciated the importance

of reusing and recycling. Their investigation culminated in a

walk to the recycling bins across Torriano Avenue to recycle all

of their milk cartons and unusable paper. As part of the

exhibition, Reception and Nursery children created an

installation made from recycled materials. Their message

'Don't Waste the Waste!' was clear for everyone to see. It

included a large world map highlighting the volume of plastic

in the oceans, children performing with shadow puppets and

creating informative posters conveying their messages.

Year 1 - How do plants grow? http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/eric-carle-art/

Year 1 began their research with a trip to Kew

Gardens, taking part in a tree hunt and exploring the

different flowers. Back at school, the children

researched how plants grow and used this knowledge

to plant their own pea seeds. They watered the seeds

and observed how they changed over time, writing

detailed instructions on how best to grow plants.

These were displayed at the exhibition, alongside the

flower pot paintings they created, inspired by the Eric

Carle story ‘The Tiny Seed’.

Year 2 - Why is life on land and life under the sea important?

Habitats http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/going-to-the-grant-

museum/

As a stimulus to the project, the children visited the Grant Museum of

Zoology where they saw a range of exhibits; including dodo bones, an

elephant’s skull and the enormous Japanese crab. There were many

thought provoking specimens on display, causing children to consider

why they were suited to their particular habitats.

“Great hosts, friendly guides, wonderful communicators! I’ve learnt so much about the sustainability of our planet.” – Parent visitor

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Dioramas

http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/diaramas/

The children then created dioramas, which showed a variety of different habitats using a range of materials

including tissue paper, paper straws, string, card and cotton wool.

Year 3 - Is bio mimicry the future of co habiting with nature?

Genetically Modified Plants http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steamgenetically-

modified-plants/

The children explored the subject of Genetic Modification, in

particular the ethical dimension surrounding modifying nature.

Could genetic modification be used to change the world? Could

plants be modified to actually solve environmental problems? They

designed plants, which could do just this. They created ‘Genetic

Collages’ which spliced together different species of plants and

vegetation. The goal was to engineer natural solutions to offset

global problems created by human intervention.

The collages were made using illustrations by Albertus Seba and Ernst Haeckel.

“So impressed with the learning, understanding and hard work right across the school! Fantastic! Hopefully these wonderful children will grow up to lead us in the future!” – Parent visitor

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Will the orangutan become extinct in our lifetimes? The Orangutan Foundation, working to protect endangered orangutans

that have lost their homes due to deforestation, visited on World Wildlife

Day. The children learnt they are under threat because of the impact

that farming, particularly of palm oil, has had on their rainforest habitat.

As change makers they considered how to help protect orangutans by

raising awareness of the threats facing them.

https://twitter.com/OrangutanFndn

Orangutan Foundation tweeted after their visit:

Excellent work by @TorrianoJuniorS , whose Year 3 students are learning

about the plight of the critically endangered orangutan!

Maths Investigation http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/my-movie-3-from-

torriano-primary-school-on-vimeo/

The children sought evidence to answer this question. They

organised their own learning and presented their findings to

classmates. Sadly, they determined the evidence supported the

conclusion that this majestic primate faces extinction by 2020.

Biomimicry - Sustainable Living A collaborative model built by some year 3 children, who were

designing future habitats.

Year 4 - Habitats: How can our actions protect living things around the

world?

Animal Encounters

http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/animal-encounters/

London Zoo was the starting place to discover more about animal

adaptation from one of their keepers. Children met some animals at close

quarters: large gorillas and pygmy hippos at lunch, penguins that moved

effortlessly through the water, brightly coloured tropical fish which

shimmered around their tanks and attentive snakes aware of every

movement. They used the knowledge and experience gained to consider

how to protect animals’ habitats.

“We were the communicators in STEAM because we were teaching others about what we had learnt.” – Year 4 child

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Is this the future? http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-is-this-the-future/

The children then worked with our artist in residence to create their

responses to the question. Using their knowledge to focus on animal

habitats and human impact on them, their creations reflected both the

damage done in the past and predictions for the future.

Year 5 – Space: Who’s going to clean that

up?

Reaching for the stars at the Royal Observatory http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-reaching-for-the-stars-at-

the-royal-observatory/

The Royal Observatory in Greenwich was the launch pad for the children’s

investigations. They discussed the planets and new solar system discoveries

with astronomers. They even experienced simulated life in space and

attended the screening of ‘Final Frontier’ in the planetarium. A visual

journey of exoplanets and the strange new worlds, which astronomers are

discovering, were further highlights; including NASA’s most recent discovery

of seven Earth sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1.

Space through Dance http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/space-through-dance/

They explored and expressed the characteristics of some of the

planets through movement and dance. In conjunction with The

Place they devised and performed their own piece at STEAM.

“Thank you for such an inspiring and thought-provoking display of work! Really excellent stuff – our future is in good hands!” – Parent visitor

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Space Raps http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-5b-space-raps/

As part of the STEAM exhibition, both Year 5 classes created a space

rap. They sampled music from the Star Wars soundtrack as well as

writing their own music and lyrics.

Building Sustainable Spaceships http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-part-one-of-building-

sustainable-spaceships/

Children upcycled junk, sourced from home

and local skips, to create model spaceships.

Each spaceship was designed to function as a

means of collecting or eliminating space

debris. They featured a range of attachments

including tentacles, ‘robotic’ arms, harpoons

and even disintegrators.

Year 6

Robota Komunitad: Do robots have a useful place in a sustainable society?

Robotics

http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-

robotics/

Children analysed the roles of robots in society and

considered our possible futures. They focused on the

ethical dimension, considering the question ‘are robots

sustainable?’

They built a series of robots, explored their functions

and the engineering involved in constructing and

programming them.

They have been further inspired by exhibitions in

London, including Robots at the Science Museum and

The Spark of Life at The Wellcome Foundation.

Torriano is truly an exceptional school, I am so proud of you all. Please do thank Tina, my excellent guide, her oracy skills and knowledge of science and technology were second to none! – Jean Lang (Camden Head of Learning, School Improvement and Partnership)

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Sustainable cities: What will the future bring?

Sustainable Cities http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-sustainable-cities/

The sustainable city team researched the most efficient sustainable energy

sources – some still in development. They assessed the pros and cons of some

of these new technologies and the skills that scientists need to develop them.

In English lessons the children applied their increased knowledge of what a

sustainable future could look like in a series of writing activities, which

supported their models in the exhibition.

Renewable Energy http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/6s-renewable-energy/

http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/renewable-energy-6w/

Both Year 6 classes created musical pieces to represent methods of

generating electricity, wind power and hydroelectric. They considered which

sounds symbolised their characters and used a combination of recorded and

synthetic audio sounds. They wrote their own lyrics and created videos using

the ‘I Can Animate’ app on the iPads.

Extra-Curricular Activities In addition to the activities in class, parents were able to support

children in homework activities, this one related to the Periodic Table.

The Elements of Change Homework http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-the-elements-of-

change/

All KS2 children were tasked to become an expert in one of the elements

of the Periodic Table. They devised detailed posters to create a

playground Elements Trail. Careful study of everyone’s posters prepared

them for the Elements Quiz, which followed.

“What great ideas! You are the designers of our future!” – Parent visitor

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Treetop Tuesday http://www.torriano.camden.sch.uk/news/steam-treetop-tuesday/

On Treetop Tuesday, in celebration of UN World Wildlife Day specialist

speakers visited Torriano to inform the children about the STEAM skills they

deployed every day performing their jobs.

The children heard from Patrick Morris, award winning documentary maker,

who has filmed in remote areas, in collaboration with experts from many

disciplines, including scientists and engineers. His finished films

depend on both his technical and teamwork skills. He shared

information about the natural habitats of some extraordinary

animals. The children learned the importance of knowledge and

awareness about the changes that humans have caused to the

planet and the effects on animal’s habitats.

Year 3 had a very informative and entertaining visit from the

Orangutan Foundation who work to help save critically

endangered orangutans that have lost their homes due to

deforestation (see Year 3 section for further information).

The day concluded with a visit from the Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation, where

the children were shown different birds of prey including the peregrine falcon,

bald eagle and a hawk. The handler spoke to the children about the natural

habitats of the birds and the specialist diets they each have. He highlighted the

adaptations, which allowed them to survive in an ever-changing environment. All

of the children thoroughly enjoyed the visit, particularly when the golden eagle

wandered between everyone and flew effortlessly above their heads.

Dr Emily Grossman Workshops Dr Emily Grossman is an expert in molecular biology and genetics, with a PhD in

cancer research and is a passionate advocate for gender equality and diversity in

science. She presented two separate workshops during STEAM week. The first was a

science careers workshop for children in years 5 & 6 and the second was the ‘Weird

and Wonderful Interactive Session’ for the whole school community. Parents and

carers were able to reserve places for this session via an online booking form. Click

here to view the workshop flyer.

Google Virtual Reality As part of the STEAM exhibition, the whole school community had the opportunity to

experience the Google Virtual Reality device. This was available to the children

throughout the week and visitors during the STEAM exhibition.

“What a wonderful experience – thank you tour guides! So informed and full of energy. There is hope for our future!! Thank you.” – Parent visitor

“Thank you and the staff very much for an amazing STEAM exhibition. It must be a lot of work, but from the children and parents perspective - very well worth it.” – Parent visitor

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Exhibition Day, March 24th 2017

STEAM 2017 was an ‘Element of Change’ in the community and beyond. The staff

were very proud of the children, who were articulate and knowledgeable about

their learning; communicating their ambitions for future and respectful

co-habitation with nature on our planet.

Visitors were taken on a creative and technological journey through fully recycled worlds; a littered universe and

visions for sustainable cities. Big questions were asked and big conversations were had. Many visitors enjoyed a

spot of periodic table orienteering and then tucked into some brain food at the Torriano Waste Café. Our Camden

LA colleagues commented that Torriano was “an exceptional school”.

“I was knocked out by your STEAM event. The children were incredibly eloquent and knowledgeable about all the areas of study across the school – (amazingly) irrespective of their actual age. Quite a feat!” – Peter Dudley (Camden Director of Education)

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Appendix 1 – STEAM Overview Plan (Science National Curriculum)

Elements of Change

Year Group

National Curriculum Focus

SDG Link Scientist Skills

EYFS

o Recycling o Everyday materials

Year 1

o Plants o Animals, including

humans o Everyday materials

Year 2

o Living things and their habitats

Year 3

o Plants o Animals, including

humans

Year 4 o Living things and their habitats

Year 5 o Earth and space

Year 6

o Electricity

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Appendix 2 – Year Group Display Overviews

EYFS

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Year 1

14

Year 2

15

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

16

Year 4

17

Year 5

18

Year 6

19

Year 6

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Appendix 3 - Resources and Collaborators

Sustainable Development Goals

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300

Jack Cornell, Artist in Residence

https://torrianosteam17.wordpress.com Patrick Morris http://www.naturalhistorynetwork.co.uk/bit-on-the-side/patrick-morris Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation http://www.eagleheights.co.uk/ Dr Emily Grossman https://www.emilygrossman.co.uk/

Camden CLC

http://www.camdenclc.org.uk/

Orangutan Foundation http://www.orangutan.org.uk/

Wellcome Trust

https://wellcome.ac.uk/

Kew Gardens http://www.kew.org/ Grant Museum of Zoology https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/grant-museum-zoology London Zoo https://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo Royal Observatory http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory The Place http://www.theplace.org.uk/ Google Virtual Reality https://vr.google.com/ Wahaca http://www.wahaca.co.uk/ Franco Manca http://www.francomanca.co.uk/ Science Museum http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/