By Casey Neill
Noble Park teachers and students are tapping into tech-savvy peers from across the country.
Samsung and Social Ventures Australia (SVA) invited Wallarano Primary School to participate in the interactive Thought Leadership Gathering at Questacon in Canberra on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 September.
The event brought together schools from across Australia that were already excelling in the science technology engineering and maths (STEM) arena to learn from each other and further improve their own approaches to STEM.
Wallarano principal Gail Doney said two students from Grade 4 joined several staff members on the trip.
“The girls have never been in a taxi, they’ve never been on a plane, they’ve never been to an airport,” she said.
“They presented at the conference to 80 people, just about what STEM is at our school and what it is from a child’s perspective.
“They’ve done really well.”
Ms Doney said it was wonderful to meet up with other schools.
“Everybody’s got different perspectives on it,” she said.
“This year is about developing confidence and competence in my staff.
“The difference to children’s education is the quality of the teacher.
“If they just stand up the front and deliver knowledge, it’s never going to work.
“You pick up little ideas from different schools.
“There’s always something that you can learn from someone else.
“You’ve got to be a meerkat and stick your head up and look into other schools and see what you can learn.”
She said the school had a four-year plan.
“Our children are learning to collaborate and our staff are collaborating,” she said.
“We’re going more into problem-based learning, giving small tasks.
“They’ve taken it on board far more quickly than I ever expected them to.”
Ms Doney said schools would always need to teach maths and have a science curriculum.
“STEM provides an opportunity for students to transfer that into real-life learnings,” she said.
She gave the example of a six-year-old student studying robotics.
“He said ‘should I code it to go 45 degrees or 90 degrees?’,” she said.
“You would never hear a six-year-old old talk about degrees.
“The kids are flying.
“If you let them go they soar.”
