STEM News

BrainSTEM - Student Report

We were given the opportunity to participate in the BrainSTEM Innovation Challenge that has taken place over the last 12 weeks.

BrainSTEM involves a group of students working together to identify a problem in today’s world and then determine a possible solution. Our group, JAAM, was assigned a mentor and together our group and our mentor, Scott Rayburg from Swinburne University of Technology, identified the issue of plastic pollution. Along the way, we did some absolutely incredible brainstorming and blew Scott, and each other, away. If it hadn’t been for Covid, we would have been based at Swinburne University every Friday. Instead we met on Teams each week and brainstormed on a collaborative website called Mural. 

We decided we wanted to focus on a small yet practical idea that could be implemented immediately instead of a ‘blue sky’ idea. Our main goal was to design an idea to improve the school, implement it in the real world and present it in front of all the other Brainstem staff and students. What did we get out of the program? We developed many ways to manage our waste effectively in the school, such as providing all the classrooms with recycling bins, and having bottle caps and soft plastics bins. These ideas have not been implemented yet, but don’t be surprised if you see something when you return from your Summer break. 

Along the journey, we shared laughs and knowledge as well as formed strong friendships that will hopefully continue through future years and beyond our time here at EDSC. 

Thanks to Ms Polidano and Mr Williamson for giving us a chance to prove that we are capable of changing the world!

by Jesse, Abbey, Alex and Megan

Year 7 Student Wins Prize in STEM Competition

Recently Dannu, one of East Doncaster’s Year 7 students, won third prize for his age group in the prestigious IBM EdTech AI competition. 

Over 70 schools registered for the competition this year, which is run in collaboration with the Australian Museum and Macquarie University.

The competition’s website states that:

This challenge is an applied learning experience for students to understand and identify issues around environmental sustainability, health concerns and disaster resilience and how artificial intelligence (AI) technology and design thinking methods can be used to tackle these problems. … [S]tudents in Years 7 to 10 are invited to enter compelling projects where technology, with a focus on AI and machine learning, is applied to help solve existing or imminent problems facing society.

Dannu worked tirelessly and creatively throughout the year on his project, and was focused on using his time effectively during lockdown. He sought feedback on his ideas and presentation, and refined his work to meet the high standard that he sets for himself.

On Thursday 11 November, he took part in the competition prize ceremony via video call – not knowing that he would be one of the winners! As the 3rd prize winner for his age group, with his submission Detecting Frog Calls in the Manningham Area: An environmental solution to train AI to detect different species of frogs through their calls, he and the school receive prizes of $1,000, science books and Australian Museum educational activities.

Well done Dannu!

Naomi Creelman

Maths/Science Teacher