Introduction to SPIRIT STEAM Activities

After the workshop, the next step is to continue building on what you have experienced, discussed, and reflected on. At this stage, the goal is to deepen your understanding by looking more closely at the SPIRIT STEAM activity examples provided by the consortium and by considering how these can inform your own teaching practice.

Begin by exploring and studying the SPIRIT STEAM activity templates. As you do so, look carefully at how each activity connects to the SPIRIT STEAM Core: connection to the real world, connection to research and inquiry-based learning, motivation for active student engagement, and development of transversal skills. Notice how different activities highlight different SPIRIT skills, use different STEAM approaches, and connect to different kinds of curriculum content.

Pay particular attention to activities that relate to your own teaching context, especially those that connect with curriculum content you are likely to teach. As you read, think about how an activity might need to be adapted for your students’ developmental level, your classroom setting, the materials available to you, and the skills you want to prioritise. This process is intended to help you move from understanding STEAM as a concept to recognising how it can be used intentionally and realistically in your own classroom.

Once you become more familiar with the structure and educational logic of the provided examples, you can begin to design your own STEAM experiences in ways that match your teaching needs and your students’ needs. One possible support for this process is the thoughtful use of AI tools to help generate starting ideas. For example, you may choose to create prompts that include:

1. the curriculum content you need to teach;
2. the SPIRIT skill or skills you want to prioritise;
3. one completed SPIRIT STEAM activity template as a model;
4. and any important contextual details, such as limited materials, combined lessons, particular student needs, or a preferred STEAM approach.

Used carefully, this can help generate ideas while still keeping your planning grounded in the SPIRIT framework and in sound pedagogical thinking.

You can also continue expanding your ideas by exploring other sources of inspiration such as teacher blogs, professional communities, social media groups, or curated idea banks. When doing this, search intentionally using keywords that reflect both your content goals and your skill-development focus, such as STEAM teamwork challenge or creative maths problem-solving. Any activity you find should always be adapted to your students, your aims, and your context rather than copied directly.

Whenever possible, test activities yourself before using them with students. This helps you identify possible challenges, refine your facilitation, and make adjustments before classroom use. As you continue experimenting, you are encouraged to share your own adaptations and reflections with colleagues and with the wider SPIRIT Community of Practice. In this way, the learning continues beyond the workshop and becomes part of an ongoing culture of professional exchange, reflection, and improvement.

Navigating the SPIRIT STEAM Template Structure

As you continue exploring the SPIRIT STEAM activity examples, it is important to understand the role of the template structure itself. The SPIRIT STEAM activity templates are intentionally detailed because they are designed as a learning tool within this training. Their purpose is to make the pedagogical thinking behind a STEAM activity visible.

The templates help you see clearly how a STEAM activity can be designed in a way that intentionally supports skill development, engagement, inquiry, and meaningful curriculum integration. At the same time, it is important to understand that this detailed format is not intended to become a permanent requirement for your everyday lesson planning. The purpose of the structure is to help you internalise the principles behind strong STEAM design so that, over time, you can apply them more naturally and flexibly in your own practice.

Template overview

Each template typically includes:

• Basic information: age group, duration, stages, and subject connections
• STEAM event summary: primary SPIRIT skills, curriculum objectives, and the real-world problem definition
• Materials at a glance: a complete list of materials needed
• Lesson flow overview: a stage-by-stage outline with durations and targeted skills
• Stage details, including:
  • how particular SPIRIT skills are developed,
  • concrete skill development goals,
  • curriculum links,
  • materials and preparation notes,
  • guided questions,
  • debriefing questions,
  • and tips for managing challenges

One particularly important element is the real-world problem definition, which should be expressed from the students’ perspective. This helps ensure that the activity is framed in a way that feels meaningful and engaging to learners.

Another key feature is the use of guided questions throughout the stages. These questions do much more than check understanding. They help make learning visible, prompt reflection, support skill development, and encourage students to articulate their thinking, strategies, emotions, and choices.

The philosophy behind the structure

This level of detail is intended to reveal the professional thinking that turns an ordinary task into a strong STEAM learning experience. By studying the templates, you begin to see more clearly:

• why certain questions are asked,
• where particular skills are likely to emerge,
• how inquiry is structured,
• how engagement is sustained,
• and how one stage leads meaningfully into the next.

In other words, the template helps make explicit the logic of the SPIRIT STEAM Core:

• the connection to a real-world context,
• the role of research and inquiry,
• the importance of active learner motivation,
• and the intentional development of SPIRIT skills.

The more you study this structure, the more you develop the professional judgment to design or adapt activities with greater confidence.

Using the templates flexibly

These templates should be approached as learning resources, not rigid scripts. As you study more examples, you will begin to notice recurring patterns in strong STEAM design: meaningful problems, guided inquiry, opportunities for creativity, testing and iteration, reflection, and intentional skill development.

Once you understand these patterns, you can adapt activities more freely. You may choose to:

• adjust the real-world connection so it feels more relevant locally;
• simplify or deepen the inquiry depending on students’ age and experience;
• emphasise different SPIRIT skills depending on your goals;
• extend some stages and shorten others;
• or adapt the activity to fit time, materials, and curriculum needs.

The aim is not to reproduce the template exactly every time, but to understand what makes the activity educationally strong.

Moving forward

After this training, you are not expected to create long and elaborate templates for every STEAM activity you use. Instead, the goal is for you to plan with greater intentionality.

As your confidence grows, the key questions become:

• Does this activity connect to something meaningful for my students?
• Does it involve genuine inquiry or exploration?
• Will it motivate active participation?
• What content does it help me teach?
• Which SPIRIT skills can develop through it, and how can I support that intentionally?

The detailed templates are therefore best understood as scaffolding for your professional learning. They help you sharpen your pedagogical eye, strengthen your planning decisions, and become more confident in creating STEAM experiences that are relevant, engaging, and responsive to your own classroom reality.