Beakerhead Virtual School Outreach
Beakerhead creates educational opportunities for students in grades K-12 to expand "the space of the possible" by providing authentic, hands-on extensions into cross-curricular content at the crossroads of art, science, and engineering. By leveraging the engagement strengths of art and culture, Beakerhead advances science and engineering as part of everyday life and encourages everyone to participate. It is an expression of the smart and flexible world we can build together, with an unabashed positive sense of inclusion. Delightful, novel, hands-on, and inspiring.
Beakerhead is adapting to COVID-19 restrictions for large-scale, in-person events and for schools by adding a virtual initiative to its program portfolio. Virtual School Outreach will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the interdisciplinary creators and innovators featured at Beakerhead through recorded and live-streamed video content, and includes programming for the public and for schools. Participating pre-service teachers will design content for an educator program guide that connects the practices and projects of Beakerhead presenters to curriculum-connected activities and projects for Alberta students in Grades 3-9.
Learning more about STEM/STEAM and how to contextualize these teachings for students was really interesting. Getting hands-on experience leading students in group activities and being able to gain experience made for a cool opportunity!
Beakerhead Participant
What's Involved
- Development of adaptable prompts, projects, and activity ideas for Beakerhead program guides that connect Beakerhead’s STEAM content to specific science, math, arts and social studies curriculum.
- Focus on interdisciplinary, learner-led projects, Design Thinking, and designing resources for use by other educators. Program guide template, STEAM content and key curriculum connections will be prepared by Beakerhead in advance.
Dates and Times
- Application Open: November 24 - December 13, 2020
- Werklund Orientation: December 15 at 1:00 pm
- Orientation and Training: First week of January 2021
- Program participation: January-early February 2021 (6 weeks)
- Program Launch: mid-February 2021
- Participating pre-service teachers will work with Beakerhead staff and independently ~4-5 hours per week from January to mid-February. Individual schedules will depend on student availability but will generally take place during the school day.
Requirements
Pre-service teachers need a current Police Information Check with Vulnerable Sector Screening (issued after July 1, 2020). Students who do not already have a police check should begin this process at their local police station as soon as possible, as police checks often take 4-6 weeks to process.
Making Connections
- Throughout each semester, pre-service teachers will curate their service experiences using a creative medium (e.g., photos, art, storyboarding, videos, etc.) that best reflects their experiences in the program. Your creative reflections will form part of a public showcase of Werklund’s service-learning program later in the year.
- Pre-service teachers will participate in 2 group meetings each semester: one at the mid-point and another at the end of their placement (1 hour each). These group meetings provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to reflect on the service-learning experience, and to guide improvements for the program.
Applications for Winter 2021 are now closed. Questions? Email wse.experiential@ucalgary.ca.
