Water World
Water World Ocean Park Hong Kong

Ocean Park Invites 10,000 primary and secondary school students to Join its “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” Programme and “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors” Scheme to Promote Nature Conservation

2018-05-23

As a driving force of biodiversity and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning in Hong Kong, Ocean Park invites 5,000 primary and 5,000 secondary school students to participate in its “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” programme, and the “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors” Scheme for secondary students for free. The goal of the “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” programme is to facilitate primary school students to discover the wonders of nature through STEAM education and to empower secondary school students to gain knowledge about the wide range of potential STEAM careers available to them that contribute to nature conservation. The “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors” scheme aims to develop a group of student ambassadors who will be empowered to share this knowledge with their peers so that more students become aware of STEAM-related careers and join in to promote environmental conservation.
 
Leo Kung, Chairman of Ocean Park, said, “Ocean Park champions the STEAM education concept. Our new series of STEAM-oriented programmes, along with the “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors” scheme, are set to reinforce our commitment to being a leading Edutainment provider in the region, and help spread the important message of nature conservation to the next generation.
 
“Participating schools and students will hugely benefit from being able to use Ocean Park’s facilities and resources to cultivate their interests in subjects associated with STEAM education while raising their curiosity about the wonders of nature at the same time and learning about STEAM-related careers that could contribute to conservation,” continued Kung.
 
Applying for the “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” programme
Ocean Park has issued invitation letters to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. To apply for the programme, local schools will need to submit an application via https://www.oceanpark.com.hk/en/park-information/news/connecting-students-with-nature-through-steam, a designated page on Ocean Park’s website that indicates the achievements of the nature and STEAM-related activities in the past; also the effective use of Ocean Park resources in planned activities on nature and STEAM-related curriculums. Invitation letters have been posted to schools with login information to access the page. Each school can receive a maximum of 200 tickets for students. Schools can apply for the “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” programme between May 23 and June 25, 2018. Successful schools will be informed by late July and student visits to Ocean Park will commence in September 2018.
                                                                                  
Selection of “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors”
Around 10 highest scoring secondary schools in the application screening process of “Connecting Students with Nature through STEAM” will be invited to each nominate six students to attend six half-day workshops where they will be trained to become “STEAM Career Peer Coaching Ambassadors” by facilitating their exposure and understanding of STEAM-related careers. The workshops will all incorporate different components of the STEAM syllabus into their activities, for example, a workshop on “Animal Care and Conservation” will cover the scientific and technology elements behind looking after Park animals, while workshop on other Ocean Park career will cover elements of engineering, arts and mathematics.
 
The Ambassadors will be encouraged to take the knowledge gained from the workshops to conduct peer-to-peer coaching in their schools so that more students become aware of potential STEAM-related career. The Ambassadors will also participate in various events in 2019 to showcase what they have learnt through the scheme.