The KIKS (Kids Inspiring Kids in STEAM) objective is to get ‘kids’ developing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths) activities for other kids in Hothousing workshops, Local Challenges and International Collaboration in four countries.

Many children, and their parents and teachers, do not enjoy or have confidence in maths and STEM so who better than to ask those more enthusiastic and/or able students to develop STEAM popularisation projects and deliver them to the less confident student audiences in the participating countries. These combined two factors: KIKS (the Kids or students inspiring other students) and STEAM (the addition of art making the projects more real, lifelike and enjoyable).

The challenge posed was: How would you get your schoolmates to LOVE STEAM?

Students were supported by a three-stage process of Hothousing (to creatively develop ideas), Local Challenges (to develop those ideas into projects and deliver them to other students) and International Collaboration (sharing and working together). 5 schools in Finland, 4 schools in Hungary, 10 schools in the UK and 9 schools in Spain participated in the program with a high 80%+ completion rate producing 50+ projects available on various on-line media.

This gave us confidence that the “Kids-Inspiring-Kids” in STEAM was a major factor. (In comparable projects, completion rates are typically less than 50%) and also the future potential of safe and secure (in reality and perception) on-line solutions including remote access for both mainstream schools/students and also disadvantaged students for example with SEN (Special Educational Needs) or living in remote communities.