Science

STEM: Imagining the Future

On the 5th of June, the STEM: Imagining the Future (Year 9/10 elective) class presented their research projects in front of invited parents, mentors Ricky John – a first-year medical student studying at the University of Queensland, and Sowmiya Selva who is an accomplished engineer and AR/VR specialist. Ms Selva works at the leading global technology service firm NCS and has roles in both Women Who Code Lead and is the Google Women Techmakers Ambassador. Sid, our consultant, was also in attendance. Sid worked tirelessly with me to help develop the elective last year. 

The presentations were simply phenomenal! Feedback from the parents, mentors and staff was sensational. Sowmiya stated that she was going to showcase one of the prototypes (the team that designed the Gender Equality app) to her workplace. 

Students studying this elective were able to further develop their critical thinking skills, problem-solving, communication, independent thinking, digital literacy and creativity skills. Collaboratively, they were able to produce spectacular prototypes such as water purification tanks for communities in Kandahar. The business and entrepreneurial team developed a business model that created and designed nutritional bars that could be distributed by NGO’s for communities in Sudan. An app was designed by another team allowing students in secondary schools and workplaces to broaden their knowledge and seek assistance on gender inequality. Furthermore, a team researched the reasons as to why some teenagers smoke and how to combat this in Victorian schools. 

At the conclusion of the presentations, each team was presented with a participation certificate to acknowledge their achievements this semester. 

I would like to congratulate each student in the STEM: Imagining the Future class for their enthusiasm and commitment to their research projects. Well done!

Student Feedback: 

The STEM: Imagining the Future elective has allowed me to make new friends and to also dive deeper into the 17 sustainable goals. The research presentation helped me to get out of my comfort zone, because I was a bit nervous about presenting in front of adults and staff. Overall, I enjoyed the STEM program and would recommend it to others who want to explore working on solutions to problems in the world.

I really loved how we got the choice to choose what global issue we wanted to do as a group, and the opportunity to work with amazing mentors. Overall, I really enjoyed this subject. 

I am quite sad that this was our last STEM lesson ever. I have really enjoyed this class and was always looking forward to having it every week. I've learned many things and made new friends along the way by studying this subject. I loved the content and was glad I could showcase (as a group) what we learnt and discovered. The presentation day itself was a great day. Mrs Matejin has been a great teacher, supporting us all along the way and I really appreciate that. 

Suzanne Matejin 

Instructional Leader