This year we began an integrated STEM unit with Year 10, following on from the Sydney University STEM Academy training that six of our High School staff attended last year. In Term 1, the students had five introductory classes, which focused on fun, problem-solving challenges using STEM principles. In Term 2, they have returned to a block of STEM that is running concurrently with the SCUBA program. This block is focused on the idea of the sustainable village but with the design of vertical gardens as a focal point.
As the students are coming and going at different times during the block, we have designed three workshops that they can work on independently when they are at School and that all add to the development of a vertical garden of their own design. The first workshop is actually designing a vertical garden, the second is a coding workshop using Arduino technology and block coding to control systems, and the third is an investigation into the operation and construction of two types of water pumps. The project has been enthusiastically received by the students even though they need to self-direct through much of it. We are very much looking forward to seeing the completion of some of their fantastic designs.
Gerard Braithwaite for the STEM Team
As the students are coming and going at different times during the block, we have designed three workshops that they can work on independently when they are at School and that all add to the development of a vertical garden of their own design. The first workshop is actually designing a vertical garden, the second is a coding workshop using Arduino technology and block coding to control systems, and the third is an investigation into the operation and construction of two types of water pumps. The project has been enthusiastically received by the students even though they need to self-direct through much of it. We are very much looking forward to seeing the completion of some of their fantastic designs.
Gerard Braithwaite for the STEM Team