Celebrating Maker-Centred Learning Success!
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To celebrate the success of its online and offline maker-centred learning model, Victoria Educational Organisation (VEO) held the inaugural STEAM-focused Education Festival in support of UNICEF HK’s “Cherish Water” Charity campaign.
The Festival demonstrated VEO’s excellence in blended learning and its revolutionary approach to maker-centered learning. Importantly, in honour of its 55th Anniversary, it also sought to raise awareness about the global water conservation crisis.
The Festival, held in an online format on 22-29 April, featured campus-based creations and activities to the delight of students and parents alike. The Opening Ceremony, held on 14 April, was attended by Guests of Honour Mr. Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, JP, Secretary for Education, the Government of the HKSAR; Ms. Judy Chen, JP, Chairman, Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF; and Ms. Guo Jing-jing, Ambassador, Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF. After the ceremony, the guests enjoyed a student-guided tour of the exhibits.
“Today’s Festival not only provides opportunities for children’s fun and creative learning, but also encourages children to explore and discover for themselves the knowledge of our world,” Mr. Yeung said. He also noted that VEO had closely followed the Education Bureau’s guidelines on “suspending classes without suspending learning”.
“Today’s STEAM Education Festival demonstrates Victoria Educational Organisation’s continued excellence in early childhood education despite the challenges presented by the pandemic,” Mrs Cheng, Deputy Vice Chairwoman & Group President of CTF Education Group and Supervisor of VEO said.
Indeed, the Festival featured an exciting mix of dynamic creations by K3 students during their online and offline learning. From water filtration systems to 3D dioramas of the water cycle, the spectacular displays revealed students’ remarkable creativity and imagination as well as personal reflection and vision for a future world.
Importantly, the Festival drove home how successful VEO has been in delivering learning that is at once fun, creative and builds problem-solving skills – all during a year marked by school suspensions.
“Our amazing students began the creative process – brainstorming – for the Festival during a period of remote learning and then made a smooth transition to face-to-face, hands-on collaboration. Words fail to express how proud we are of our students for their resilience, vibrant creativity and unique vision,” said Ms. Rebecca Ip, Executive Director of VEO.
The Festival reflects VEO’s investment in maker-centered learning as a bridge to STEAM education. A proud member of CTF Education Group, VEO is intent on driving technology-forward education, recruiting only the most professional educators and investing in research-based teaching and learning paradigms.
In year 2018, with the support of CTF Education Group, VEO participated in a pioneering research initiative “Agency by Design: Early Childhood in the Making” with Project Zero at The Harvard Graduate School of Education. Aside from publishing the book, Maker-Centered Learning Playbook for Early Childhood Education: Playbook, the initiative has also been instrumental in promoting children’s cognitive development, while encouraging them to take ownership of their own learning, very much in line with the IB curriculum.
The school also sees the Festival as an opportunity for it to give back as part of a global community. Together with donations from the VEO community, VEO joined forces with CTE Education Group and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group to raise HK $1 million for UNICEF HK’s campaign to provide under-resourced communities with potable water. Furthermore, VEO published two water activity books and filmed a video to further educate the public about innovative measures implemented today to provide people, especially children, access to safe drinking water.
Each campus took it upon itself to focus on a specific water conservation problem and finding relevant solutions to showcase at the Festival. During online learning, students were given take-home packs so that they could begin their experiments at home. They were later able to meet to work together to build their creations.
Learning that millions of children around the world have no access to clean water, Harbour Green Campus and Harbour Height Campus students took the time to understand the problem and then thought of solutions to create their own filtration system to make clean drinking water accessible to all.
Students from Harbour Heights campus explained their creative process: “We used our understanding about satellites to design a system capable of detecting insufficient water supplies around the world. We experimented with various ways to purify water and then shared our findings online with our classmates! ”
With more than 2,000 families attending the event, parents were wowed by a colorful array of creations that reflected Upper Class students’ different learning journeys. These included talent, fashion and drama performances; mini games; and gardening tips by the students themselves.
