SA Naturally Brave Maker’s Empire Project

Student Article 

This year, 16 year 4/5/6 students took part in the Naturally Brave Project. This project was all about studying deeper into natural disasters and how we can help families in need before, during and after natural disasters. 

The Naturally Brave showcase took place on Friday the 21st November. There were so many other groups from different schools across South Australia presenting their work at the showcase as well as ours. Our school took 8 students (2 groups) to display our problem solving at the presentation. The showcase was held at Stradbroke School and was organised by Growing With Gratitude, Makers Empire and Bushfire Kids Connect. 

Our groups had to design a new idea that could help a family before, during or after a natural disaster. Through the showcase we found lots of amazing ideas that could really be useful through natural disasters. All groups of the project had to connect their ideas with the set key concepts such as gratitude, kindness, service, empathy, self-awareness and many more. We also had to step our learning through the design thinking process across the entire project. The steps include: empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test and implement. During the showcase we learnt lots and presented heaps of great information. At the showcase we presented our work to the judges and other peers. This gave students a chance to take a look at other people’s wonderful ideas. During this time each student got a passport to fill with stamps. We earnt a stamp by asking an interesting question or giving strong, clear feedback to people’s designs. We were also able to vote three times for the groups we think did an excellent job towards their project. Afterwards, the judges announced the peer award (the group which got the most votes) and the judge’s award (the group that the judges thought had the most interesting and creative idea). Later, we ate Subway for lunch (absolutely scrumptious!) and then packed up ready to head back to GPS.

Overall, the showcase day was super fun and the naturally brave project got so many children brainstorming ideas that could actually help a family. It has also helped us students learn about natural disasters and how much damage they can cause. Our four groups from Greenwith Primary came up with fantastic solutions and all of our groups deserved to take part in the presentation. A massive thank you to Mrs Howard and Brayden for supporting us throughout the journey.

By Aubrey G