STEM Challenge Day

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) movement is about teaching these subject disciplines in an integrated way so that skills students learn are seen as transferable between disciplines and contexts, and relevant to real-world problems. It is important that our students are given the opportunity to engage in STEM-based activities and are able to consider engineering and other STEM occupations as possible career paths.

The STEM Challenge Day was held recently for two Year 8 classes. The context for the STEM Challenge was the field of bio-engineering, specifically remote surgery - being able to control a device from a remote location that could perform surgery such as a heart or kidney transplant. Students worked in teams to design and make a device that could carefully pick up a 'heart' (tennis ball) and 'kidney' (ping pong ball) from a distance of 1.1 metres away and accurately locate them on a given target. The highlight of the day was the testing of devices in the afternoon. Each team's 'surgeon' was given just one minute to perform the required surgery, whilst standing behind a screen and viewing the surgery via real-time video footage.

The College is exploring the possibility of community partnerships with STEM professionals and industry.