Digital Technologies

It is with great excitement that we welcome back our students to 'Digi Tech' for another fun year of DTE and STEM based learning!

Our Year 7 students have learnt all about 'how to look after their new laptops' and are now starting to experiment with the software on the laptops. They have been working with basic brushes, gradients, shapes and text in Photoshop and you can already see some great work using these tools. I can’t wait to see the finished products!

Our Year 8 students have jumped into 'Hour of Code' with a passion and now that they have brushed up on their coding skills they are ready to start designing and building their arcade games in Scratch. You can see some of our students hard at work creating the characters (sprites) for their games.

Over the semester, the Year 8 classes will take it in turns to work in the STEM Room learning all about IoT (Internet of Things) and programming with the Micro:bits. They will use the Problem-Solving Methodology (Analysis, Design, Development and Evaluation) to plan and build their own Virtual Pet (similar to the old Tamagotchis some of us remember from back in the day!). Room 51 are the first class to give it a go and I can tell you their hand drawn designs are looking great!

Year 9 students have created their trackers using Microsoft Excel and are just about to start designing their logos for their app in Adobe Illustrator. Some skills learnt include using formulae and functions, conditional formatting and setting up data validations.

STEM Leaders

A new year means a new set of STEM leaders and I am delighted to introduce our three amazing STEM leaders for 2022 - Lakmi Dabare, Rachel Hoppe and Olivia Tubb.

Adrienne Donoghue

Learning Leader:

Digital Technologies

Lakmi Dabare

Hi! My name is Lakmi Dabare, and I am honoured to be granted the opportunity to help guide our College in the pursuit of increasing awareness and passion for the STEM fields as a STEM Leader.

I am currently undertaking a VCE course consisting of Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry (I also completed VCE Biology in 2021).

My top three most memorable STEM experiences in Kilbreda include:

Creating a website for Programming, Gaming and Web Design (Year 10). This was a REALLY fun experience, as it was a flexible project that allowed to me present my interests (killer whales) in an aesthetic and accessible format.
Coding a 'Space Invaders' type game for Programming, Gaming and Web Design (Year 10). This was the project I threw myself into during lockdown and really stimulated my brain, giving me a strong sense of accomplishment once I submitted the task.
Creating electric circuits in VCE Physics (Year 11). I loved being able to put wires together and experiment with them to make things like water heat up and switch light bulbs on. It was incredibly satisfying to be able to apply my knowledge in such a practical application.

STEM is so important in our current world, and more relevant than most think. When you go on a rollercoaster or you’re driving and trying to estimate whether or not you can whiz past that yellow traffic light, that’s STEM! You may not realise it, but science is always around you, and always influencing your life somehow. And finding 'the how and the why' behind those examples isn’t as hard as it seems.

I would love to empower young women to investigate the STEM fields and help begin to quieten the voices exclaiming “ew no mAtHs and cOdInG - that’s so haaaard!” because with a bit of passion and drive, any Kilbreda girl can breeze through the STEM subjects!

Rachel Hoppe

Hello, my name is Rachel, and I am one of the STEM leaders for 2022. The STEM subjects I am studying this year are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematical Methods and Data Analytics.

The College offers many STEM extracurricular opportunities. However, one of my favourites was participating in the University of Melbourne's Girl Power program. This program, which the College introduced me to, allowed me to see how girls can find their place in this field. It has made me consider how many young women in our community may have an undiscovered passion for STEM but, given the stereotypes around this field, may not have the courage to pursue them.

I think STEM is important because it is the foundation of many things in our society today even if we don't recognise it. The world would be a very different place without the progress that STEM has facilitated. If women were valued more in STEM, it would be amazing to see what they would be able to accomplish.

My goal as a STEM leader is to help advocate for girls in STEM fields and to show, through my leadership, that it is possible for anyone to find a place, whether it be with new friends or finding peers that share the same interests as themselves. This idea is built on my own experience, stepping out of my comfort zone to explore my passion from STEM, growing my knowledge and skills in the process.

Olivia Tubb

Hi my name is Olivia.

This year I'm studying Chemistry, Specialist Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Data Analytics.

One of my favourite moments in STEM whilst I've been at the College has been learning about the periodic table, particularly when we learned the periodic table song. Another was looking at some interesting data sets in my Applied Computing class including data surrounding things like 'Spotify plays' over the past decade and the number of people on the Titanic.

I think STEM is important because it helps you learn about the world and the way it works. STEM helps individuals develop skills such as problem solving and innovative critical thinking. As we continue to explore areas in STEM, the knowledge of the world we live in and the technology available to us continues to increase.

My goal for this leadership role is to try and encourage more girls to pursue studies in these areas as they are incredibly interesting, important and is an overall unrepresented field for women.