This year at Leumeah High School students in Year 7 have taken part in our Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) challenges.
What is STEM?
STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Through STEM, students develop key skills including:
• problem solving
• creativity
• critical analysis
• teamwork
• independent thinking
• initiative
• communication
• digital literacy
Each week students work with various teachers across Science, Industrial Arts and Math to complete challenges. Students have the ability to take the reins of their learning as they decide on their project path with some guided instruction from the experts.
The students must use their creativity and communication skills to work collaboratively to complete each of the challenges. So far, students have been tasked to design and build a self-propelled car as well as build and code a robot to follow a mapped path. The project has seen some out of the box thinking and while some have met success, others have met with disaster. However at the end of each of their challenges students are provided with the ability to critically reflect on their final project and find ways to make them better.
Some students have shown so much enthusiasm for STEM that they have even been selected to be part of the ABCN STEM program which sees students travel into the city across four sessions to complete STEM challenges with mentors at Ernst and Young.
What’s next?
Well, students are currently working to design and build a rocket. The groups are competing amongst themselves to see who can design and build a rocket that can travel the furthest!
Stay tuned for more STEM!