STEM Conference

It Takes a Spark - STEM Conference

At the end of last term 25 students selected from Years 4 – 6 took part in the STEM conference at Peter Carnley Community School. The intent of the Spark STEM Conference is to inspire students and teachers to experience what is possible in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and to support them to co-design and co-lead in their schools.

Mrs Crouch, Mrs Watters and the students were all inspired by amazing keynote speakers and engaging workshops. The first keynote speaker was Associate Professor Parwinder Kaur – an award-winning scientist. She leads cross-disciplinary biotechnology research investigating Earth’s biodiversity and natural environments to ensure sustainable futures. Through her diverse research teams, such as DNA Zoo Australia, she harnesses STEM to achieve maximised impact. We were all excited by her enthusiasm to study Western Australia’s incredible range of biodiversity and plans the DNA zoo has to bring back the woolly mammoth.

The second keynote speaker was Dr Kathryn Ross, Astrophysicist, from Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy.  Dr Kat Ross is an astrophysics post-doctoral researcher using the novel technique of spectral variability to study active galactic nuclei and galaxy evolution and has a PhD working with telescopes around Australia, in particular, using the Murchison Widefield Array, a radio telescope based in the remote outback of Western Australia. Explaining the size of the universe and information about black holes were of great interest.

The workshops we attended included sessions on virtual and augmented reality, engineering challenges, cyborgs, drones and eco-engineering with innovations for our oceans. We are hoping to share many of our experiences with Burrendah and incorporate ideas into learning experiences for many more students.