St Vincent’s Primary Aranda recently investigated what it would take to 'put on a great show'. To delve into this inquiry, Year 6 teachers Luke Maher and Sam Beattie created an inquiry unit that involved a range of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths experiences that formed a ‘STEAM’ based learning unit. The contextual culmination of this inquiry was a whole school stage musical titled, ‘Somewhere, Between Here, There and Everywhere!’

Over the term, Year 6 students learnt about the many STEAM concepts of the theatre and this learning led to the creation of many of the elements in the show performed in front of the school community.

Learning experiences included an excursion to Canberra Theatre, researching and creating theatre advertisements, creating business plans, developing coded and programmed user interfaces for lighting and sound and engineering puppets made of cardboard.

The students shared their skills with other schools and found inspiration in their community, their world and themselves. Technology enabled them to further their knowledge and this supported their understanding of the evolved and ever evolving landscape of technology in the theatre.

The learning was also shared across St Vincent's as music teacher Anna Marzano worked with all classroom teachers to choreograph two songs featuring the whole school and a unique class act.

St Vincent’s worked closely with the St Francis Xavier production staff and stage crew who supported the inquiry project with expertise and to help run the show and teach Year 6 what they know about theatre and its STEAM elements. St Francis Xavier also provided lighting, production script design and sound. St Vincent’s thank Darg, Gabby, Hayla and the Stage Crew for their support.

The musical was written by Luke Maher and St Vincent’s student Annie Whittaker (6 Yellow) who wrote 2 scenes herself.

This inquiry unit and performance is a learning experience St Vincent’s Year 6 students will cherish in the future.

St Vincent’s teachers developed this inquiry unit with the support of Lora Bance, CE Innovations Officer and Dr Jane Hunter (University of Technology Sydney), whose research has led to the development of the High Possibility Classrooms Framework.

Dr Hunter was a classroom teacher and is currently a core member of the STEM Education Futures Research Centre at the University of Technology, Sydney. It is Jane’s work and research into inquiry learning that inspired the innovation in making this musical STEAM learning inquiry.