Mayfield Primary offers STEAM approach to preserving environment

Mayfield Primary and Infant School in Southfield, St Elizabeth, recently held its inaugural Club Expo and Open Day event.

During the expo and open day, clubs were tasked with creating resources which would display the theme: ‘Preserving the Environment- a S.T.E.(A.) M. Approach’.

In response, parents, teachers and students collaborated in the respective clubs to create a plethora of household and other tools which employ the environmentally friendly ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ strategies.

Principal Loren Newbold-Gayle explained that “the school family embarked on this initiative in order to promote the development of students’ critical-thinking skills and to drive innovation and promote collaboration among students”.

Club displays included the creation of wooden bats and PVC-based batons and other gear by the Sports Club. Displays from the Reading and Spelling Club included the creation of an interactive television set made from cardboard, and models of communities which depicted the use of science and engineering skills. Beautifully crafted paper-based wall appliqués were also on show.

Through the use of scientific, mathematical and engineering skills, the Environmental Club displayed hydroponic farming units using a water-based nutrient solution to grow lettuce instead of soil. While one unit was embedded in a five-gallon plastic container, the standing unit featured the circulation of water through a three-inch PVC pipe from an electric submersible – both units and uniquely crafted spoon-based wall fixtures were crafted for the expo. The 4-H Club was not to be outdone. Their displays featured a cardboard-framed greenhouse lined with plastic; a cardboard-based swinging bridge, which depicted keen engineering skills; and containerised gardening model of a housing community which illustrated the use of wind and solar energy, the harvesting of rainwater, composting and replanting.

The Culture Club put on a multifaceted display which reflected the use of plastic bottles to create garbage bins; the use of tissue to make decorative flowers; wooden toys; fudge stick jewellery boxes; a cardboard-based aquarium and table; containerised gardening; an innovative tyre hassock; and a show-stopping map of Jamaica which utilised painted peas and beans to demarcate the respective parishes.

The day’s events allowed for synergy among the school’s stakeholders, specifically including the staff, students and participating companies, which included representation from Access Financial Limited, Victoria Mutual Group, the Registrar General’s Department (Santa Cruz), St Mark’s Anglican Church, and The Jamaica National Group.