Maths, Science and STEM

Year 9 AMSI Workship

On Tuesday the 27th of August, presenters from AMSI which stands for Australian Mathematical Science Institution came to Killester College to talk to the Year Nine’s about choosing maths for further study in high school and tertiary education. The presenters talked about why girls should continue to choose maths and what are the reasons people decide to not continue maths. Soon after the explanation, the students completed an activity regarding solving Fermi questions which are questions that uses estimation to answer using mathematical formulas and our problem-solving skills. The problem that we had to solve was identifying how many match sticks could fit a table. Many of us found it difficult to find an approximate answer because our tables were irregular shapes and there were quite a few problems we had to consider, like the size of the matchstick and if there was a pattern or not. We had to use a variety of mathematical tactics like surface area and algebra to help us come to a conclusion and in the end, we were able to find an answer. The students were reassured that it is okay to be confused about maths, that learning comes in many forms and is a lifelong prospect that we carry with us for the entirety of our lives.

Simone Dunker, Yechelle Fernando, Sonika Sraghu and Janika Kallichanda

Homeroom: St Barbara

STEM - Next Tech Girl Superhero

This year for the first time Killester College participated in the search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero. Girls aged between 7 - 17 years old in Australia and New Zealand formed a team and are matched with a female tech mentor who met regularly with the team for 12 weeks.  Teams must solve a problem that is inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Leean Miranda, Sylvia Griffin, Lorraine Becker, Alina Le and Kaitlin Nguyen decided to address the problem of poverty within our community. The girls researched food insecurity as well as food wastage and developed the idea of KC’s Food Aid, which connects restaurants with surplus food to the homeless community. They documented a solution in a business plan, built a working app prototype and pitch it in a public video.  Over 700 girls entered the competition, and KC’s Food Aid was highly commended for their concept idea.

Congratulations to Leean, Sylvia, Lorraine, Alina and Kaitlin who worked extremely hard on their concept over the last few months.

Daisy Callos, STEM Teacher