Activity 1 – Energiser: Using a Symbolic STEAM Demonstration to Build Real-World Connections

Symbolic energiser, short demonstration, brainstorming, guided group exercise, gallery walk, and structured reflection on how a symbolic STEAM activity can be connected to real-life situations, curriculum content, research-based learning, and the development of the 10 SPIRIT Skills.

Learning objective to be achieved

Participants understand and begin to use STEAM as a framework for making meaningful connections between an activity, real-life situations or problems, curriculum content, research-based learning, and the intentional development of the 10 SPIRIT Skills.

Activity/exercise in details

This activity is designed as a symbolic energiser for the start of a new training day. It reconnects participants to what they explored before the workshop and immediately places them in an active, creative, and strategic way of thinking.

The activity begins with a short symbolic energiser demonstration and then builds into guided reflection, group brainstorming, a structured exercise, poster creation, a gallery walk, and whole-group reflection. The demonstration is the starting point of the activity, not the full activity itself.

The main purpose is to help participants practise making STEAM connections. They begin with something that may seem simple or abstract and work towards connecting it to a real-life situation, scenario, or problem. In this activity, a real-world connection may be social, emotional, environmental, scientific, or linked to everyday life, as long as it moves the activity beyond the demonstration itself into something meaningful and relevant.

This is important because real-world connection is central to STEAM. If teachers can learn to make these connections intentionally, they can later make a wide range of classroom activities more relevant and relatable for their students.

The symbolic energiser itself is therefore less important than the thinking it prompts. The trainer/facilitator may choose any suitable symbolic energiser, though it is best if it comes from the STEAM templates already created by the consortium. Any examples from the templates may be used, such as:

How does precipitation sound? – Stage 1
States of matter – Stage 3
Emotion builders – Stage 5

After the demonstration, participants work in 3 groups. They first generate possible real-world connections, then choose one, and finally analyse it through four simplified planning sections:

Real-world STEAM Connection & Problem definition
The topic within the curriculum they can connect it to / National curriculum Link and Objectives
Notes on Research-based approach & integration
Primary SPIRIT Skill(s) that can be developed through this activity

The aim is not to produce a complete STEAM lesson plan, but to help participants understand how an initial symbolic idea can be developed into a more intentional STEAM connection.

Introduction: 0-10 minutes

As participants enter, the trainer/facilitator invites them to “put on their creative problem-solving hat” and observe the demonstration carefully.

The trainer briefly explains the task:

they will first watch a short symbolic demonstration;
then they will think about what it could represent;
then they will connect it to a real-life situation, scenario, or problem.

The trainer should make clear that in STEAM, an activity becomes stronger when it is connected to something meaningful, relevant, or worth investigating.

The trainer then carries out the symbolic energiser demonstration. The recommended demonstration is the Kinder Egg Explosion, though another symbolic energiser from the consortium templates may also be used.

If the Kinder Egg Explosion is used, the trainer takes the yellow/orange plastic toy container from a Kinder Egg, removes the chocolate and toy, places baking soda in the larger half, adds a small amount of water to the smaller half without mixing them yet, closes the capsule firmly, shakes it, and places it on the floor. If the seal is tight and the quantities are correct, the capsule pops.

The demonstration should not last more than 3 minutes.

Immediately afterwards, the trainer asks:

What does this make you think of?
What could this symbolise?
What real-life situation, scenario, or problem could this connect to?

If participants begin generating ideas independently, the trainer moves straight into group brainstorming.

If participants seem unsure about the kind of connection expected, the trainer may give one brief example only. This should clarify the task without reducing participants’ own creative thinking. For example, with the Kinder Egg Explosion, the trainer may say that one possible connection is how a person’s inner world can be affected by outside actions or inputs, which may lead to emotional reactions. The trainer should not develop this example further at this stage.

Step by step details of the main part.

Step 1: Brainstorm possible connections

Participants work in 3 groups using whiteboards or poster paper. Each group brainstorms possible real-world connections based on the symbolic energiser. At this stage, the aim is to generate possibilities, not to go into depth.

Trainer instruction:

Ask groups to write short ideas only. Groups have 3 minutes to list their ideas.

Step 2: Share initial ideas

Each group shares its ideas with the whole group. Each group has 2 minutes to present.

Trainer instruction:

Keep this part brief. Do not allow groups to go into full explanations yet. The purpose of this stage is to show that one symbolic starting point can lead to several meaningful directions.

Step 3: Choose one connection

Groups return to their tables and choose one connection to develop further.

Trainer instruction:

Tell participants to choose the idea with the strongest potential to become meaningful for teaching and learning.

Step 4: Model the exercise structure

Before groups begin the main exercise, the trainer shows them how to use the four sections.

If the trainer is using the Kinder Egg Explosion, the detailed STEAM program is available as an attachment to this activity. If the trainer choose an other STEAM program from the “COMPREHENSIVE STEAMIFIED TRANSVERSAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOOK FOR TEACHERS”, participants should receive a hyperlink to the STEAM Activity for that activity.

Participants should also receive a simplified exercise sheet containing only the four planning sections:

Real-world STEAM Connection & Problem definition
The topic within the curriculum that they can connect to / National curriculum Link and Objectives
Notes on Research-based approach & integration
Primary SPIRIT Skill(s) that can be developed through this activity

The exercise sheet should include one simplified example based on the demonstrated activity.

The trainer briefly walks participants through this example and shows how one symbolic connection can be developed across the four sections.

Trainer instruction:

Say clearly that participants are not expected to create something as detailed as the full template. They are only expected to organise their thinking using the simplified exercise sheet. This modelling and clarification should take approximately 3–5 minutes. If a different symbolic energiser is used, the trainer should provide the matching filled-in template and a corresponding simplified example on the exercise sheet.

Step 5: Create the poster

Each group creates a poster using the four simplified sections.

Groups have 5 minutes to complete their posters.

Trainer instruction:

Remind participants to keep their ideas short, clear, and structured under the four headings.

Step 6: Gallery walk

Groups place their posters on the wall or in another visible place in the room. Participants move around, read the posters, and look at how the other groups developed their connections.

This gallery walk lasts 3–5 minutes.

Trainer instruction:

Ask participants to pay attention to similarities and differences between the groups’ connections.

Step 7: Whole-group reflection

The trainer closes the activity with a whole-group reflection of 10–15 minutes.

The reflection should bring participants back to the learning objective. The trainer should help them identify how they moved:

from observation;
to symbolic interpretation;
to a real-world connection;
to a more structured STEAM analysis.

The trainer should also help participants reflect on why this matters for teaching: if they can learn to make these connections intentionally, they can later design or adapt activities that feel more meaningful and relevant to their students. Trainer instruction: Keep the reflection focused on process and application, not on judging whether one connection was “right.”