Challenges of Creativity-based International STEAM Camps to Inspire and Motivate Gifted Students

Abstract

NSTDA is the national science and technology research center in Thailand. One of its missions is to develop and prepare competent human resources in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM). Organizing STEAM camps for gifted students are among our highlighted activities.Gifted students have the highest potential to become innovators in the future if we nature them properly.We engage and encourage them to express their curiosity, creativity and talents in STEAM. Each year, we organize several national camps and a few international camps.One of camps we organized was at the 15th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness:APCG2018 Youth Camp on the theme “Inspiration,Motivation,and Creativity:Leading the way to Giftedness”, Keys to our success in this APCG2018 Youth Camp (STEAM camp) were integration of fun, hands-on, open-ended,and challenging problems in a friendly and non-judgmental learning environment. There were two types of sessions: plenary for all participants,and special activities allowing participants to pick and choose activities that suited their individual interests.Each participant was able to select one session out of six break-out sessions.Examples of activities included Creativity Gym,Create Art by Applying Math, Design Thinking for Kids, and Smart Entrepreneur.Results from the survey show that the STEAM camp encouraged and developed creativity skills. Overall,the participants’ satisfactions score was 3.27 of 4.00 (Excellent level). Furthermore, the STEAM camp had motivated students to have positive attitudes in science,technology, engineering, art, and math, showed by the top score of satisfactions of the Creative Gym activity which got 3.50 of 4.00 (Excellent level). Challenges in running STEAM camps for gifted children from multi-cultural background and covering a wide range of age groups will be presented and discussed.

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Author Information
Piroonrut Poonyalikit, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand
Sopida Pananusorn, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand
Pankamon Sornsuwan, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand
Akekalak Tungrattanavalee, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand

• Category: Education & Difference: Gifted Education

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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