"It Takes a Spark"

 Digital Technologies

Last Friday four of our current School Leaders, including our two ICT Captains, had the opportunity to spend the day at John Paul College for the ‘It Takes a Spark! Grok Academy STEM Conference’.

The day involved listening to two guest speakers and participating in three workshops, all revolving around science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Our first speaker was Dr Elahe Abdi who is a senior lecturer at Monash University in the area of aerospace and mechatronics engineering. She spoke about how robotics is being used to create everything from Mars rovers to medical equipment.

Students then jumped into their first workshop. We spent some time exploring the open hands-on expo area, which included the makerspace and video game design competition stands.

Our second workshop was a challenge where students had to create an earthquake-proof structure.

After lunch, our Paula Wasiak spoke to students about conservation and working at Phillip Island Nature Park with penguins. We saw the power of art and science coming together to find creative solutions to help our furry friends.

Our final workshop for the day revolved around prototyping and the importance of continually testing and modifying a product to reach the best version to meet a specified goal. Students had a short amount of time to create an automata during this session.

It was a hands-on, STEM filled day and both students and teachers had a great time!

Miss Eagling and Mrs Brooking