STEM Excursion

Systems Engineering for Conservation - STEM Excursion

A selected group of year 5 and 6 students went on a STEM excursion to Wyndham Tech School and Werribee Zoo to expand their knowledge of the ecosystem and environment.

To add on, the students learnt about the engineering design process to create and develop their own robots to solve an environmental crisis. The problem given was mosquito fish, an invasive species brought to kill mosquitoes, that is very common among Australian billabongs and swamps. They have the capability of killing fish, tadpoles and other native animals, which makes the whole food web collapse. 

The students tried to make prototypes to solve the problem with Lego bricks which taught them to code and create - Neha

Day 1: Werribee Zoo

“My favourite animal was the elephant, as they are gentle giants with amazing anatomy. Their feet are quite silent despite their size” - Neha

“My favourite animal I saw today was a hippo because Mr. Alan calls us Hungry Hungry Hippos.” - Lydia

Day 2: Wyndham Tech School

"Our mosquito fish passing gate was successful in detecting the mosquito fish, and it had very interesting features. For example, a colour sensing camera.” - Sudee

“My robot was successful because it swept away all the fish. First it failed because the wheels didn’t align, but eventually we fixed it.” - Sidakpartap 

“The most interesting thing I learned is that robots can now move like the robot dog! They have very advanced tech.” - Pratham + Wali

Joanna Gee

Learning Specialist - Subjects F-9

Isabel Mertick-Sykes 

STEM Teacher