International Online Workshop on Making STEAM Education Fun with Traditional Toys Held
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ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) jointly with National Science Museum of Thailand (NSM) organized 1st “International Online Workshop on Making STEAM Education Fun with Traditional Toys” on July 11, 2024. The objective of the workshop was to promoting the potential development of children and youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) and exploring ancient toys, materials and designs of ECO region and encouraging teachers and students to create new toys from ancient toys’ models encompassing the different cultures. The workshop was attended by the teachers, students, academia and young leaders from Thailand and ECO region. Three experts from NSM and ECOSF trained the participants on the traditional. The workshop was moderated by Dr. Wilasinee Triyarat, Director of Research and Academic Services Division at NSM.
The Workshop was opened by the Vice President of NSM Dr. Ganigar Chen. In her opening speech, Dr. Chen highlighted the collaboration between ECOSF and NSM developed recently. She also thanked NSM and ECOSF teams for organizing such a beautiful and friutful workshop. She emphasized that more such workshops should be organized in the future. Dr. Ganigar also made an introduction of NSM and said that under the NSM, five museums are working focusing on specific fields such as science, natural history and information technology. NSM is playing a pivotal role for promotion of scientific culture in Thailand, she added.
President ECOSF Prof. Dr. Seyed Komail Tayebi also addressed the workshop as keynote speaker. In his keynote, he introduced the ECOSF and said the ECOSF is an intergovernmental agency of ten countries which works for promotion and support of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) based activities in its Member Countries. He further explained that STEAM education is an integral part of the education system of any society. The STEAM education provides an opportunity to achieve the goals of sustainable development, he added. He further said that the traditional toys have been playing a significant role since ancient times. Through the traditional toys, innovative ideas are created and shared leading to develop the base for critical thinking. Prof. Tayebi also appreciated the collaboration between ECOSF and NSM and hoped that this collaboration with NSM will be stronger in the days to come. More activities can jointly be arranged, he added. He also said that NSM and ECOSF are the active members of Belt and Road International Science Education Consortium (BRISEC), thus, the collaborative activities can be organized under the auspices of BRISEC.
Later, Dr. Peeranut Kanhadilok, Director of National Center for Public Awareness of Science, NSM along with Dr. Wilasinee started the workshop activities. Dr. Kanhadilok, as an expert in toy STEM, explained in details the functions of NSM. They presented the traditional old toys of Thailand and new traditional toys developed by NSM through the local materials. Dr. Peeranut amicably defined the techniques of every traditional toys developed by NMS or used in Thailand. Dr. Peeranut said that every traditional toy has its own definition. Good thing about the traditional toys is that they provide a platform to learn through play and interaction which easily attract children to be engaged. A huge variety of the toys were presented by Dr Peeranut with the statement that most of the toys were made by her. Most of the toys have been made by her, she explained.
The 2nd Expert of the Workshop was Mr. Elahe Ranai, ECOSF Trainer from Iran. Ms. Elahe highlighted some kinds toys found in different countries of the World. She focused on Sound Making Toys. She said that Sound Making Toys enhance auditory perception, develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, creativity and imagination. She further said that STEAM based projects develop cultural knowledge for young learners. She also shared historical vintage sound toys used in old age Persian dynasty.
Last speaker of the workshop was Ms. Zeinab Tayebi, ECOSF Trainer from Iran. She talked about the ancient Persian toys. In her presentation, she described the history of the toys dated back 4000 BC. She explained the different kinds of toys such as Quadricycles, Animal Figurines, Functional Toys, Decorative Toys, Educational Boards, Musical Toys, Dolls and Puppets and Ritual Religious Toys, etc. As per the methodology of ancient Persian people, every kind of Toys has its own purpose.
At the end, a Q&A session was also held. The workshop was closed with the vote of thanks to everybody for their attendance.