SES and CESD jointly organise the 26th Primary STEAM Project Exhibition on Climate Change

Students from participating schools share their research processes and findings with the public at the 26th Primary STEAM Project Exhibition.

To submit their entries to the exhibition, students must conduct research on climate-induced crises like global rise in temperature, increasing incidents of extreme weather events, threats to food security, and risks to biodiversity.

Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES) and the Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) jointly held the 26th Primary STEAM Project Exhibition (PSPE), the city’s largest annual exhibition on STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) at the Hong Kong Central Library on 8 May. More than 1,000 primary students and teachers from local schools and schools from the Greater Bay Area joined this year’s exhibition.

In recent decades, climate change has caused global rise in temperature, increasing incidents of extreme weather events, threats to food security, and risks to biodiversity. The organisers have chosen “Climate Change” as this year’s theme to reflect the seriousness of the crises. To prepare for their exhibition booths, participating students conducted research on these climate-induced issues. They then applied academic knowledge and STEAM-related methods to propose innovative improvement strategies to tackle the issues. Altogether, participating schools submitted nearly 170 entries to the exhibition.

Participants could choose between the “Inquiry Group” or the “Invention Group”. As a group they identified issues related to natural disasters, contemplated and investigated the connection between natural disasters and climate change. Then they developed thoughts, improvement plans and solutions. Afterwards, they shared their research processes and findings with the public.

Dr Li Wai-chin, SES Associate Professor, one of the chairpersons of the exhibition’s organising committee, said, “All participating students have demonstrated boundless creativity and contributed to the improvement of climate change.” Another chairperson Dr Sarah Lee Hoi-man from SES said, “This event has increased students’ interest in learning, promoted transdisciplinary learning, and advanced the learning and teaching of STEAM.”

The event’s judging panel was comprised of professionals and educators from various sectors, including government departments, higher education, education organisations, green organisations, and EdUHK scholars. The panel selected outstanding projects for various award categories, including “Adjudicator Awards” and “Outstanding Achievement Awards”. The four participating schools which received Adjudicator Awards were:

School	Project name
Chai Wan Kok Catholic Primary School	By exploring the principle of buoyancy, the project designs an environmentally friendly and effective automatic floodgate to prevent water damage
Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School	By incorporating principles of biomimicry and conducting experiments in classrooms, the project explores the methods to reduce the use of air conditioning and promote energy efficiency
Kowloon Women's Welfare Club Li Ping Memorial School	The project creates a device to prevent elevator flooding, which can be activated in advance
Buddhist Chan Wing Kan Memorial School	Using various types of waste materials, the project creates eco-friendly insulation bricks

Apart from SES and CESD, other co-organisers included Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence Teachers Association, Education Bureau, Hong Kong Association for Science and Mathematics Education, Hong Kong Education City, Hong Kong Science Museum, and TechEd Centre, and Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers.

For more details, please visit the PSPE website: https://www.edcity.hk/pspe