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Advancing STEAM Education in Your School

Stage 3: Refreeze

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What is Refreeze?

In the Refreezing stage of Lewin’s 3-Stage Model of Change, the main focus is to ensure that an organization be stabilized and institutionalized in a new state after the Change stage. Formal and informal procedures need to be in place so that new behaviors become habitual and sustainable.

 

Change management researchers and practitioners have found the following techniques to be helpful in making Refreezing possible:

 

1. Institutionalize new systems and process

  • E.g Incorporate STEAM-related initiatives and changes into year plan, with clear and realistic milestones   

    • Referencing STEAM Studio’s engagement model with vocational-technical schools and urban districts on planning and implementation, a timeline may look similar to the following:

Change Timeline Sample.png

  • E.g. Establish formal collaboration with stakeholders that can support the change process (e.g. Faculty members/researchers in Higher Education institutions, community partners, partner schools that are also in similar change process)

 

2. Modify organisational structure and job descriptions accordingly:

  • E.g. Set up STEAM Innovation Team or STEAM Co-ordinator to lead the change initiatives and review change progress​

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3. Provide training and support on new changes:

  • E.g. Set up STEAM learning communities among educators within the school so that they can regularly discuss challenges in enabling STEAM and learn from external experts/practitioners

  • E.g. Set up user-friend intranet portal to document changes and learnings along the way to keep everyone informed

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4. Align reward and evaluation to new change:

  • E.g. Regularly assess the progress of STEAM improvement on a personal-level (students and educators) and on an organizational-level (the school as a whole)

  • E.g. Provide financial and non-financial rewards for educators actively experimenting with STEAM implementation within their classroom and collaborating with other educators

  • E.g. Establish feedback systems to solicit input from different stakeholders regarding the change process

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5. Celebrate change accomplishments:

  • E.g. Create showcase opportunities for educators to showcase effective hands-on teaching of STEAM knowledge/skills, as well as for students to showcase their project output to different stakeholders

 

Last but not least, it is important to note that the change process is a reiterative one. A school would continuously go through the Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze stages to regularly improve and stay current.

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