Futurists' Fair: Week 1

Following on from ABCN's STEM+X Workshop, our Year 5/6 students will participate in a class project over a 4-6 week period. This class project will then be presented to a panel of judges via video conference: The Futurists' Fair.

For the Futurists' Fair, students need to come up with an idea that will brighten Australia's future.  It can be a new product, improvement to an existing product, experiment or invention. They need to use their STEM skills and abilities to develop this idea and show the judges how it will have a positive impact and improve the future of Australia in some way.

So in our first session, my amazing students brainstormed and then shared the problems that matter to them. Most of these students are 10 years old; I love how passionate they are about their world and their futures, but it hurts my heart that these are the issues that 10 year old children are concerned about:

In our next session students will finish adding their ideas to the padlet above, and then pitch their ideas to the whole group. Students will vote on one larger issue that they will all tackle, and then they will work together in small groups to create their solutions.

I can't wait to see what they come up with.  These are our change makers; watch this space!

STEM Student Workshop with business mentors

Some very exciting things happening in the world of STEM at our school! Yesterday our students participated in a STEM workshop developed by the ABCN (Australian Business and Community Network) and NBN CO (National Broadband Network). In the afternoon, ABCN delivered a parent seminar to our school community. Following on from the workshop our students will be involved in an Australia-wide competition: The Futurists' Fair.

Students working together to play Pacman with a Makey Makey Invention Kit

First, some background info: ABCN partners business with education through structured programs, which involve corporate volunteers mentoring students. Their focus is to improve the opportunities and outcomes for students and schools most in need. "Every year we work with over 200 public schools across Australia to deliver a range of critical employability, leadership and skill-building mentoring programs. These schools are typically priority-funded and located in low socio-economic status (SES) communities."

Our NBN Co. mentor telling us about his work and passion for STEM education

"In partnership with the National Broadband Network, ABCN has developed the STEM+X workshop to highlight the importance of STEM in everyday life... Underlying the workshop will be a focus on STEM+X - with the 'X' representing the children's passions and interests. NBN CO and ABCN believe all Australian children, regardless of their economic, religious and cultural backgrounds should be encouraged to enjoy STEM. STEM will be integral to their future employability and enjoyment of the world around them."

Yesterday was our program launch and 30 of our Year 5/6 students participated in a STEM workshop. Throughout the day we also had media visit us. Students were very excited the next day when they'd seen themselves on a local news station and heard their radio interview!

The first part of the workshop involved students in a one minute brainstorm of the many uses of a paperclip. Some ideas included mini kebab holder, belt clip and fishing hook.  A few too many students had ideas about opening locks and using it as a vandalism/graffiti tool! They then had another minute to come up with all of the ways you couldn't use a paperclip. Some of their ideas: You can't fly with it, can't use it as shelter from rain, can't drive it and can't use it as underwear.

Students then had their first experience with a Makey Makey invention kit. With a Makey Makey, students can make any conductive material act as the input device for a computer.

Students then worked together in teams using the design thinking process. Their challenge was to design an app that would improve our school.  

 

They then presented their ideas to the rest of the class. Students came up with some wonderful ideas in a short time, and some of them are keen to take their app ideas further!  We had a great day and are all looking forward to starting our work on the Futurists' Fair project.

Winter Olympics

For the first two STEM lessons of the year, Grade 5-6 students have been working in teams to create a solution to a Winter Olympics design challenge. Students voted on the Winter Olympics theme and the question they chose to tackle was:  How can you use the materials provided to design and build a ski lift chair?

Students decided that the criteria they would use to test and evaluate the success of their designs would be a time-trial/race with the fastest ski chairs being awarded gold, silver and bronze places. As well as needing to be the fastest ski chair, their mini person also needed to stay inside their chair and arrive "safely" at the bottom of the "ski lift".

During our first testing phase one design was very fast!
Gold Medal: 3 seconds
Silver Medal: 23 seconds
Bronze: 27 seconds

We saw some fabulous team work and heard plenty of group discussions about the force of friction and which materials they thought would help to improve their designs.

 

First test: This design was awarded a "gold medal" for taking 3 seconds to travel down

Guided Inquiry: School Garden

This is a guided inquiry that I'm currently planning for some of my students who require some extra scaffolding and more support with inquiry-based learning. It would depend on the needs of the cohort and individual students as to how I provided that extra guidance. I would also provide students who require extension with an open-ended inquiry or a deeper or more complex question. For example, if the curriculum required that we covered the topic of food security, I might ask "how can we create a sustainable, resilient and healthy food supply system?" or allow them them to come up with a question themselves that addresses the topic.

First I would introduce the learning intentions and then tune in to what students already know about the topic of food security/provide some background information that will help inform their project choices.

Sometimes individual students need a little extra prompting to help them start imagining the possibilities. If this was the case, I may offer some possible suggestions to get them started.

Background information:

Most of my students have already worked on some projects connected to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals:

Future Challenge – Food Security

Food is fundamental to our health and wellbeing. By 2050 the world’s population is expected to reach over 9 billion people; to meet this demand food production must increase by 60%. Over 800 million people currently experience food insecurity worldwide, and it is thought that approximately 5% of the Australian population is affected. Innovation is required to meet the challenge of ensuring food security in both Australia and the rest of the world.

Some groups are at a higher risk than others of food insecurity, such as Indigenous Australians, the unemployed, single parent households, low income earners, and young people. With future predicted changes in climate, the scale and picture of food production in Australia is likely to change.

In Australia, there is typically less than a month of non-perishable food in the supply chain at any given time, and less than a week for perishable food. Holding low reserve supplies makes food security in Australia vulnerable to extreme weather events.

The problem can occur at any level from how we access food, to the availability of the products, or to the way we use and/or waste the food.

*Information taken from CSIRO Research; STEM X Academy

Protostorming

What a fantastic start to the year! My colleagues and I decided to try something new for our STEM/STEAM lessons. Our primary classrooms are grouped as double units; each pair of classrooms is joined by a large glass double door. We decided to join two classes at a time, so that means over 50 students all working together. 

I was a bit worried that it might be a bit ambitious at the start of the school year, but our students really stepped up and I was suprised by how calm it was despite the large numbers! 

To kick off the year, we had a quick recap on what STEM is, and then we were straight into creating. The learning intentions were to practice working as a team and using our resilience strategies when things didn't go as planned. 

As part of starting off the school year smoothly, students had already been tuned into what resilience looks, sounds and feels like with their class teachers:

By Year 3 Students

By Year 3 Students

Each table group had a different material and they had a short amount of time to brainstorm some words to describe the properties of their item. The items included straws, stockings, paper napkins, cotton balls, icy pole sticks, toothpicks, rubber bands and string. They then needed to quickly draw and write some ideas for what they could make using that item as the main (not sole) ingredient.

I then introduced the concept of protostorming (inspired and taken from Questacon's makerspace sessions during STEM X Academy). Students were instructed to use any available materials to rapidly build lots of rough, unfinished prototypes or models. The focus was on quantity not quality, and the goal was just to get them creating.  They loved it and came up with so many fantastic ideas!   

STEM X Academy

What a privilege it was to attend STEM X Academy 2018, a five-day residential program held in Canberra for primary and secondary teachers.  This inspiring program connects teachers with expert researchers, scientists, innovators and educators, and was developed by ASTA (Australian Science Teachers Association), Questacon and CSIRO. I was incredibly lucky to receive a generous scholarship from Stile Education; one of many highlights was the opportunity to meet Stile’s founder, Dr Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist.

STEM X Academy will be a game changer for me as a teacher. In 2017 I started my own passion project to create a sustainable STEM program in our school and my STEM X Academy experience is going to help to take it to the next level. It has given me the tools, the access to expertise advice, a network of passionate teachers and the confidence to step up as a leader.

When your professional development is kicked off with liquid nitrogen, exploding teddies and marshmallow bazookas, you can be fairly certain that you’re in for a ride. Dr Graham Walker’s demonstration was highly entertaining and educational; I’m still trying to figure out what the risk management would look like to do this with my students!

At CSIRO, we looked at sustainable futures and teachers worked in small groups along with scientists and STEM education experts to create an inquiry based project on a real-world future scenario. In my group we all had different perspectives and ways of looking at the problem. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone and it was a valuable reminder that this is something we often ask of our students. Our group worked with Dr Jacqui Watt, a business innovation facilitator with an impressive list of qualifications. I was really inspired by her career narrative and I can’t wait to have my students connect with her. We also worked with Raghvendra Sharma, a PhD student working in CSIRO Agriculture and Food on breeding for wheat rust resistance in Australia. Five of us were lucky enough to be shown around the laboratory to have a closer look at his amazing work. Our school will be participating in the Futurist’s Fair this year, and I am looking forward to connecting my work from CSIRO with this event.

I was in my element during the two days of hands-on makerspace sessions at Questacon’s Ian Potter Foundation. We were guided through a process to plan STEM projects to take back to our schools, and also had the opportunity to be creative and to problem-solve. We warmed up with an engaging protostorming activity and worked in teams to complete challenges with a ‘fun factor’, including building trigger tracks using LED lights and a donation box that would encourage people to put more money in. A highlight for me was using Makey Makeys to redesign a controller for arcade games, and judging by the noise level and laughter in the room, others felt the same. I am excited to take back these ideas and opportunities for my students and colleagues. 

 

We also had a fabulous evening after hours at Questacon, exploring and playing with the interactive exhibits before being treated to the coolest dessert, using liquid nitrogen to freeze gin and tonics.  

Just when I thought the STEM X Academy experience couldn’t possibly get any better, we spent an evening at Mt Stromlo Observatory handling tiny satellites worth about $2 million dollars. Dr Ben Greene’s work using lasers to deal with space junk was fascinating and I’m still finding it difficult to sleep after Dr Brad Tucker’s thought-provoking presentation on “everything”. 

Weeks after my STEM X Academy experience I am still buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm. The Alumni group provides a constant hum of ideas and inspiration; I have found my tribe and it has quickly become my most constantly checked Facebook group! Being able to connect with passionate teachers and experts who are leaders in their STEM fields and STEM education is an amazing opportunity. I would recommend to any teacher wanting to be challenged and enlightened that they attend the STEM X Academy next year.

Our kids deserve the very best that we can give; STEM X has given me a guide map and helped me to clarify the bigger picture. I have a vision of where I aspire our school to be and I am excited about the learning journey my students are about to embark on this school year. I can’t wait to see where this inspiration and experience takes us all; the best is yet to come.