STEAM Stands for,  SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ARTS and MATHS.

To encourage students to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths activities in Largy College we have implemented several activities throughout a number of subjects.

At Largy College we acknowledge that STEAM education is the future and we try to motivate our students to participate in these areas where possible. We encourage forward thinking and reward innovation.

STEM and Sustainability Project 

STEAM through Digital Literacy

In Largy College we recognise the importance of STEAM in Education. The college encourages and motivates any students with an interest in this area to pursue it as a possible career. To encourage STEAM through computer based subjects we have set up a number of clubs and classes students can engage in.   

Computer Club – Computer club in Largy was set up to encourage students, who may not have access to computers at home, to engage safely and effectively with digital media. The club was set up to give students the opportunity to develop as independent learners through the use of digital technologies, placing emphasis on STEAM related activities such as coding and robotics. Since the club was set up in Largy College in September it has seen a huge increase in the number of attendees.

First Year Coding Club – The first-year code club was set up to cater for first year students who had an interest in learning the basics of coding. The code club started with the fundamentals of block-based coding in the form of Scratch, allowing students to then transfer their skills to other coding formats such as the BBC microbit.

TY Coding Classes – in order to encourage STEAM activities in senior cycle students, basic coding was introduced into computer classes. Developing coding skills is beneficial in encouraging Computational thinking among students, a vital skill needed when pursuing a career in STEAM subjects. Scratch and the BBC Microbit where both used to teach the students how to code, then allowing them to apply their skills in the form of building Kitronik :Move mini buggies or the :MeArm robotic arm; coding these robots to run through the use of the Microbits and/or through the use of mobile devices.    

STEAM through LCVP

Visit to CombiLift – As part of our initiative to promote STEAM related subjects/careers, Largy College took a group of LCVP students to visit the CombiLift factory in Monaghan. Students were able to witness first-hand the design and manufacture process of customised Forklifts, which are sold to 85 + countries across the world. The aim was to stimulate interest and to encourage students to pursue a career in STEAM subjects as well as promoting the Traineeship offered by CombiLift and Monaghan Institute. The visit also offered a great opportunity for students to gain an insight into the running of a world class factory, situated on our doorstep.

STEAM in Science Department

Teachers in the Science department realise that we are living in a more technological advanced world and that they need to keep up to date with developments to prepare students for the numerous employment prospects in the IT sector. We are basically trying to prepare students for jobs that haven’t even been created and technologies that haven’t even been invented yet. Teachers need to also incorporate teamwork, one of the Junior Cycle key skills, into their lessons while promoting STEAM. Teachers in Largy College always encourage their students to take part in Scifest and many other STEAM initiatives like LEGO Mindstorm, Maths week, Science Week and digital literacy are always being supported within the school. Students are lucky to have the opportunity to take Science subjects & engineering for the LC and girls are encouraged to take these subjects and have had success in them.

Scifest - Each year students are encouraged to enter Scifest. There has been enormous success in the past with Louis Madden winning the overall National Final of Scifest in 2015 and then travelling to Arizona and winning Intel ISEF awards there. More recently this year, a 5th Year Student, Ruth Madden won the prestigious Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) Award at the National Scifest in Marino Conference Centre, Dublin. In addition to the THEA Award, Ruth also received an excellence in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Award for the project and the ASM Materials Foundation Education award for the best materials engineering project in her region. 

Lego Mindstorm - Transition Year Engineering and Physics students took part in a Lego Mindstorm Peace IV Project. This was an initiative of Cavan Monaghan ETB, Monaghan County Council Peace Partnership and was supported by the European Union’s Peace IV Programme managed by the Special European Union Programmes Body. It is based on robotics technology for real life problem solving. It allows users to create a physical construct using Lego bricks and then develop an IT code to control it. This encourages learners to engage in STEAM through hands-on learning and now Lego Mindstorm is a TY module within the school that all students will get a chance to take part in.

Science Week - Science week in Largy College takes place in November every year coinciding with National Science Week. There are various activities held by the Science Department both inside and outside of the classroom. There are quizzes, debates, movies and also a presentation to students who win the best science projects in the school. This year the 2nd year students enjoyed a trip to Armagh planetarium where the school was used to officially launch the new Junior Cycle Science Course for all schools in the Planetarium.

Use of technology in the classroom - Transition Year Biology students took part in a competition run by SEA-SEIS. Scientists from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) deployed 18 seismometers at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean between 17th September and 7th October 2018, and they will be retrieved this year. These devices will be gathering information on the structure of the Earth. Some of our students were among entries from all over Ireland and Europe and got to officially name 2 of these devices that are in the ocean and had a video link from the classroom to the ship during the expedition to experience their seismometers being dropped into the ocean.

Students are encouraged to develop their digital media skills in the classroom e.g. recently a class had a task to design a 1-minute news broadcast from Ireland (Clones) from the year 2050 using windows photo to make a movie and the movies were put on display for Open Night.

A group of 2nd year Science students won the Saffron Travel Science Competition this year. For the competition students had to make a 3-minute video on how Science and Technology integrate different modes of transport to make travelling easier, cleaner and more energy efficient in their community in the next 10-20 years. The prize was for 20 students and their teachers to go on an all expenses paid trip to Belgium, Holland and Germany - the Saffron Science European border hoppin’ experience in January this year.