A Laois school recently held an exciting STEM Show and Tell Showcase for their families and friends.

For more photos from Scoil Fionntáin Naofa Shanahoe's event, click NEXT or ARROW. More on the story below.

Scoil Fionntáin Naofa, Shanahoe held a STEM Show & Tell event as part of their participation in the Curious Minds STEM initiative on Tuesday, 24th March.

The event was very much pupil organised and pupil led, with students from Junior Infants to sixth class, and the school's sonas class, taking responsibility for displaying and showcasing their learner experiences across science, technology, engineering and maths to parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members.

There was a great buzz in and around the school on the evening of 24 March as family members came out in force to support the pupils’ STEM showcase.

See pictures of last year's STEM Show and Tell here

The school participates in the Curious Minds STEM initiative (formerly Discover Primary Science and Maths) on an annual basis, and the ‘Show and Tell’ element is an integral part of the Curious Minds programme, as it affords the pupils the opportunity to showcase and explain their STEM based learner experiences to a wider audience.

It was the first year that the Show and Tell event took place in the evening, but the school found it a worthwhile endeavour as it allowed a wider audience of family and friends to attend, who may have been working during school hours.

"The pupils had a wide range of STEM learner experiences on display, to include Beebots, Scratch, VEX Robotics, Six Bricks, IZAK9 cubes and bridges and ‘marble runs’ constructed during Engineers’ Week, to name but a few of their displays," principal Barry Whelan told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"The main focus of the school’s Curious Minds application this year centres on coding, with a spiral approach to coding practices being adopted through the school. The school’s Junior and Sonas Class are focusing on coding practices using Beebots," Mr Whelan explained.

The school purchased its own set of Beebots and associated resources using funding provided as part of their participation in the very worthwhile STEM focused Creative Cluster 2024-2026 in conjunction with Laois Education Support Centre, together with money allocated by the school’s very supportive Parents’ Association.

"The Beebots support mathematical learning by teaching sequencing, positional and directional language, shape recognition, and spatial awareness," Mr Whelan highlighted.

"Additionally, these ‘robots’ enable cross-curricular, inquiry-based learning, allowing pupils to explore science (cause/effect), literacy (story sequencing), and geography (early mapping skills) concepts in a playful and engaging manner."

Middle Classes in the school are focusing on coding practices using Scratch programming, as part of which they work collaboratively and co-operatively to develop Scratch projects to integrate with a variety of different themes and topics from the Primary Curriculum Framework.

"The senior classes were very fortunate to be selected to participate in the VEX Robotics IQ Programme in conjunction with the STEM Engagement office in Laois County Council and received a full set of VEX IQ equipment as part of their participation in the programme," Mr Whelan praised.

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Over the course of the school year's first term, 5th and 6th class students built and programmed their own hueybot robot using Scratch, which they named ‘StackAttack’.

Students participated in the regional VEX IQ competition in Mountmellick Community School in February of this year, under the name of the ‘Shanahoe Stackers’.

Well done to Scoil Fionntáin Naofa Shanahoe students on their hard work!