2016 STEM (6-11) Conference

9:00 AM

1 Hour

Anita Trenwith will share how STEM has worked in her classroom and how thinking outside the square can lead to some amazing curriculum outcomes for students. Her passion for STEM teaching has resulted in cross curricular STEM projects including students developing science safety videos, running science shows and demonstrations for television and embedding STEM into her agriculture course for special education students. Anita will also discuss how her current work in the University of South Australia STEM outreach programs provides opportunities for high school students to access cutting edge technology and current content from leading academics to engage them in STEM learning through UniSA Connect workshops and programs.

Presenter: Anita Trenwith

Organisation: University of South Australia

10:40 AM

1 Hour

Your friend invites you to play a simple game, where a single coin is tossed repeatedly until a selected outcome of 3 consecutive tosses turns up. You choose T, T, H and your friend chooses H, T, T. Is this a fair game? The answer will probably surprise you! How many factors does the 3,600,000 have? Could you work this out in your head? Participants in this session will explore this and a range of other mathematics problems that will help build your students abilities to work with problems beyond the standard skill and drill practice provided in many textbooks. If you have attended my problem sessions previously, you’ll be delighted to know I will be presenting more great problems for your students to explore.

Presenter: Peter Fox

Organisation: Texas Instruments

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

Science is the application of maths, offering endless opportunities to consolidate concepts taught in maths lessons. A good understanding of the mathematics involved in the science topics being taught will support good teaching practice and help to strengthen the scientific concepts as well. Consistency between maths and science is clearly desirable wherever possible. This workshop has been designed to demonstrate how the broad topic of cell biology can be taught as a unit incorporating both the scientific content and the mathematical concepts that support an increased level of understanding of the content.

Presenter: Ann Ruckert

Organisation: MASA

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

Problem Based Learning in Maths allows teachers to facilitate learning experiences that are engaging and real world. The nature of teaching in a PBL approach fosters the curiosity of the students and promotes inquiry as the driver for learning. The conversations that the teacher has with the students are more focused on the questions that the students have and student-centred. When students learn through a problem, they identify and develop a need to learn prior to learning the necessary skill, concept, or way of thinking. This requires them to connect their learning to prior experiences in order to explore and inquire, building upon their prior understanding.

Presenter: John Rowe & Renee Scarborough

Organisation: Australian Science & Mathematics School

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will look at various sources of information available for students to investigate climate change and global warming. This STEM topic offers students the opportunity to link their studies of Statistics with those of Earth and Space Sciences.

Presenter: Marion Gaertner

Organisation: Mathematical Association of SA

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

Design Thinking 3D Printing is making it's way into primary schools. But what to do and where to start? DECD has partnered with Maker's Empire, a start-up company which has developed easy to use 3D printing software to work with 28 primary schools in a pilot project. Primary teachers worked to develop learning experiences based around the design thinking required to use 3d printing effectively. This workshop will explore Maker’s Empire as well as free 3D printing software and consider the design thinking needed to engage with this new technology in order to meet the achievement standards for years 6-7 in Design Technologies. Work samples from the pilot project will be made available. This is a hands-on session.

Presenter: Paul Clapton-Caputo and Alex Semmens

Organisation: DECD, South Australia

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

Many people around the world struggle to survive on less than two dollars a day. STEM for Humanity explores some ways that Scientists and Engineers can work with communities in developing countries to support and improve their lives, in a manner that is sustainable within the community. This interactive workshop gives an overview of a UniSA Connect workshop run for senior secondary students, but activities can be easily adapted for younger cohorts. The workshop focus on the work of Engineers Without Boarders and Geospatial Scientists who have worked in developing communities to improve water quality and security for the local people.

Presenter: Celina Bolding & Nathaneal Scherer

Organisation: University of South Australia

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This seminar is designed to show how a teacher can easily, and practically, use DECD's Moodle to flip lessons within its' safe online learning environment. Main topics to be covered will be setting up, design, sharing and collecting work from students.

Presenter: Paul Gavini

Organisation: Marryatville High School

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

Game Development is an engaging medium that develops computational thinking, problem solving skills and computer science knowledge, all objectives of the STEM pedagogy. In this session I will demonstrate how student exploration of a range of software and hardware allows them to autonomously program exciting outcomes that can be deployed to their very own game console.

Presenter: Nathan Cini

10:40 AM

1 Hour

CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency and one of Australia’s largest informal science education providers offering a range of education resources to assist teachers to engage students in STEM In this fun, interactive session you will hear more about our most popular national programs for schools; Scientists in Schools and Digital Careers. You will learn how to connect with STEM professionals though the Scientists in Schools program, to provide access to real-world experiences in STEM. Through our Digital Careers program you will get to try out some activities and explore the ways in which they align with and support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum in your classroom, while engaging your students in STEM education.

Presenter: Julie McClements

Organisation: CSIRO

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), , Science (yr.6-11)

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will look at: * An understanding of STEM learning * An understanding of STEM terminology * Thinking about “What does this mean for my teaching and students learning opportunities?”

Presenter: Meegan Ballantyne & Kath Ireland

Organisation: DECD - Learning Improvement Division

Target Audience: Primary

11:45 AM

1 Hour

During this workshop I will show you some different ways to approach algebraic multiplication, factorisation and division in secondary maths classes

Presenter: Carol Moule

Organisation: MASA

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Science investigations and a range of hands-on activities are used to teach the Science inquiry skills strand of the Science 7 to 10 Syllabus. Students report enjoying hands-on activities, teachers often struggle to shift from prescriptive investigations to open-ended inquiry We will use the ‘inquiry slider’ to shift an investigation from a prescriptive activity to an open-ended inquiry. Which key aspects of science investigations can be manipulated to increase student engagement and help achieve the curriculum learning outcomes? In this hands-on laboratory workshop, participants will work on an investigation and obtain resources to assist with implementing and assessing using the ‘inquiry slider.’

Presenter: Andrew MacKinnon

Organisation: University of Adelaide

Target Audience: Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

The workshop will encourage participants to understand why mathematical thinking and understanding is the foundation on which science, technology and engineering stand. Examples will be given of: • situations where mathematical knowledge, thinking and skills underlie STEM • circumstances where the maths being used hasn’t been sound with disastrous results. Participants will take part in a number of thought provoking, hands-on mathematical activities.

Presenter: Ann Ruckert

Organisation: MASA

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

This seminar/demonstration is designed to show how to implement, both from a teacher and student perspective, the use of video and images to analyse motion within the classroom. Using the free software "Tracker" from the Open Source Physics project out of Canada, students are able to collect calibrated measurement data from recording/photographing practicals for post-analysis in spreadsheets. Examples of year 12 Physics work will be shown with the projectile motion and the Teltron tube experiments.

Presenter: Paul Gavini

Organisation: Marryatville High School

Target Audience: Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Secondary students often consider that science lacks relevance for the everyday world. At the same time, evidence suggests that students are concerned about global warming and climate change. The STELR program is a national science program developed by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, which uses the relevance of global warming issues to inspire students into inquiry-based learning in the physical sciences. This workshop focuses on the STELR Renewable Energy module and how it engages students and empowers teachers. Participants will: • undertake hands-on investigations into wind and solar energy • view support materials which map to the Australian Curriculum • experience iSTELR, an on-line delivery option for STELR.

Presenter: Pennie Stoyles

Organisation: Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will present and explore ideas and strategies that can be used to encourage and support girls to study and succeed in STEM subjects. We will look at programs that exist in Australia and globally and look at their potential for success and how they can be adapted to the school and classroom environment.

Presenter: Marion Gaertner

Organisation: Mathematical Association of SA

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Playford International College is a member of the Soundhouse Music Alliance. The organisation is dedicated to the pedagogical application of music and multi-media technology. Playford IC Soundhouse enables the successful delivery of Music Technology and Individual Study units at Stage 1 and Stage 2. Music Technology is also incorporated within the Year 8-10 Elective and Special Interest Music curriculum.

Presenter: Jenna Miltenoff

Organisation: Playford International College

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Designing effective teaching and learning in STEM to engage, challenge and shift students dispositions. In this workshop we will explore the pedagogies that make a difference to student learning and how to implement them in the classroom.

Organisation: DECD

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Design & technology (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

“The Coding across the Curriculum initiative will increase student engagement and support high quality teaching in technologies” – Media Release, Christopher Pyne, 18 Sep 2015 (along with an associated Government investment of $3.5 million over four years in resources that support teaching coding in schools). Did you know you can do coding on graphics calculators? This hands on workshop will examine the “10 minutes of code” principle. We will use the TI-84 calculator to code some very basic programs in mathematics. You will be able to take away ideas ready to implement and use in your classroom. No previous coding experience of any kind is required and TI-84 calculators will be provided if you do not have your own.

Presenter: Brian Lannen

Organisation: Murray Mathematics Curriculum Services

Target Audience: Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11)

11:45 AM

1 Hour

The learning outcomes which are achieved by examining a real world challenge reach beyond conventional classroom opportunities. By inviting Industry to share authentic problems with students, we as teachers allow for the development of skills for life by evoking learning with creativity and innovation but more importantly with purpose. We will present an example of a STEM project run with year 6 and 7 students. In conjunction with ASMS we developed a program which ran over two terms and focussed on assessing the Critical and Creative Thinking Capabilities. Our mantra throughout the development of the project: "It’s not about the solution; it’s all about the process.” helped us as group mentors to retain our focus on the skills we were hoping to develop in the students. We will focus on the process of the management of our STEM project, improvements we identified along the way, and on the outcomes we observed in the students.

Presenter: Sue Gaardboe & Christie Evans

Organisation: Edwardstown Primary School

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Year 6/7 STEM

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Robogals is an international volunteer organisation committed to inspiring female students to pursue stem fields. Our Adelaide chapter is unique as we also recognise the importance of encouraging other underrepresented groups in STEM such as students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and rural communities. We achieve this goal by running free robotics workshops for school students from years 3 to 10 and informing them of available Maths and Science driven pathways. For workshop bookings and all other enquiries please contact us at: adelaide.schools@robogals.org

Presenter: Robogals Adelaide

Organisation: Robogals Adelaide

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Coding can help form the glue to make sure the STEM acronym really sticks. Participants in this workshop will work on a range of problems that allow students to explore mathematics and science using coding. The TI-Innovator will be used in this workshop, it makes the industry standard TI-Launchpad accessible to students in year 7 - 12.

Presenter: Peter Fox

Organisation: Texas Instruments

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

The UniSA Connect team will present ideas on incorporating smart technology such as VX Sport GPS trackers and Smart basketballs, as well as a suite of Sport Science resources in STEM related subjects and assessment tasks. The hands-on session will offer participants the opportunity to engage with the technology and gain exposure to ideas and methods for delivering the technology in a cross-curricular approach using sport as a focus.  Nick Gloede (Ocean View College) will demonstrate how GPS trackers have been used in cross curricular approach in Outdoor Education.

Presenter: Katie Gloede & Nick Gloede

Organisation: University of South Australia & Ocean View College

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

A visual display of student centered learning rubrics and examples of learning outcomes together with working projects. The theme is "STEM, sustainability and renewable energy". The presentation will include working examples of student designed and created projects on Solar Energy and Transport; Low Energy Lighting; Solar Hot Water Systems.

Presenter: Andrew Costi

Organisation: Hamilton Secondary College

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Design & technology (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Using various resources, including some recent research, workshop participants will engage in a number of activities demonstrating links between mathematics and the natural world.

Presenter: Ann Ruckert & Rachael Whitney-Smith

Organisation: MASA & MAWA

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

There is now significant evidence to the point that Active Learning Methods are significantly superior to other forms of teaching as it brings about greater levels of engagement and questioning. Image Tracking using Webcams is creating new opportunities in undersetting, coordinate systems, vectors & graphing in an interesting and interactive way. This workshop will demonstrate how simple pullback toy can be used with tracking to teach key mathematical concepts. This is a handson the workshop.

Presenter: Sivam krish

Organisation: PhoneLabs

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

STEM Learning challenges traditional delivery and assessment methods, exploring new ways of identifying evidence of learning are required. In this workshop, we will explore some innovative and effective strategies to build onto our current practice to assess STEM thinking and skills.

Organisation: DECD

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), STEM, Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

The SA Water Industry Quest is an industry Partnership between 3 DECD schools and SA Water which uses a SMARTMETER to engage students with real world problems and have them make use of technology to pose solutions. This partnership started in 2016 and the intention is that generic materials will be generated that teachers across SA can make use of. Supported by SA Water Community engagement group, and covering areas of the Australian Curriculum from the Learning areas of Science, Mathematics and Technology this workshop will give participants insight into the student and teacher experiences and learning. A number of ideas and classroom resources will be provided and ideas on how to develop your own industry quest will be discussed.

Presenter: Philip Hutchinson & Eden McEwen

Organisation: Heathfield High School

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Inquiry approaches to teaching are often perceived as taking more time than traditional approaches. Using data loggers, to quickly collect the data or collect data that is difficult by other means, students can move on to the analysis and explanation more quickly. This hands on workshop will use water testing and crash testing as examples of inquiry's supported by data loggers.

Presenter: Bruce White

Organisation: University of South Australia

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

1:35 PM

1 Hour

This workshop explores some of the reasons students make mistakes or develop misconceptions and how teachers can either use these or modify their approach to enhance student learning.

Presenter: David Andrew

Organisation: MASA

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

In the real world professionals don’t just use mathematics to solve a problem, they use technology to guide and inform, they use science to test and make judgments and they use engineering to build and test solutions to problems. The people who are at the top of their fields are innovative, critical thinkers, who are creative and able to see the big picture, can work in teams they can cross fields and ask the right questions.  Steve Job’s said it best. They are the crazy ones…….

Presenter: Sue Elderfield

Organisation: Playford International College

2:40 PM

1 Hour

There’s no need for a computer when your calculator can do the control coding! We will examine a set of free online lessons called “Path to STEM projects”. This introduces activities for the TI-Innovator™ Hub that explore STEM concepts and develop engineering skills by designing and coding electronics. Step 1 is operating your TI-84CE Graphics Calculator. Step 2 is using the programing facility in that calculator to write some code. Step 3 is connecting your calculator to TI-Innovator™ Hub and executing your program to control a range of sensors and actuators. If you are already at Step 2, then this workshop is a highly recommended natural progression, but if not then don’t worry, the workshop will begin at Step 1.

Presenter: Brian Lannen

Organisation: Murray Mathematics Curriculum Services

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11), Ict (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

reSolve: Maths by Inquiry is a collaboration between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers. A brief background to the project will be shared. An ‘inquiry’ lesson will be modelled, making connections with the STEM arena. The inquiry approach is able to be adapted to older and younger students.

Presenter: Matt Skoss

Organisation: Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Low entry and high exit tasks are useful ways of targeting teaching. Building and programming a robot to conduct a scientific inquiry could be such a task. Come along and build a simple robot, program it to collect data and see what you think. No prior experience required.

Presenter: Bruce White

Organisation: University of South Australia

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

A hands on approach to Science and Mathematics. You will be able to experience the combination of maths and Science being introduced during a construction session. From building a rat trap car to launching a water rocket, the concepts of friction, energy, time and pressure will all be illustrated. This hands on session will also show the link between Science, Mathematics and Technology as outlined in the Australian Curriculum.

Presenter: Peter Sawley

Organisation: Energy Education Australia Inc.

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

This seminar/demonstration is designed to show how to use Vernier equipment to conduct a "digital" acid-base titration and post process the accumulated data within the Vernier software and spreadsheets within the classroom.

Presenter: Paul Gavini

Organisation: Marryatville High School

Target Audience: Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

This interactive workshop looks at how 3D design can improve the learning outcomes in problem based learning environments. Participants will explore how 3D design can be implemented across the curriculum and how a Design Thinking methodology can be used in the classroom. Participants will get to experience the use 3D design solutions and the opportunity to learn/share with other educators around how this technology has been implemented into schools. This workshop is ideal for teachers in the Primary and Middle Years of education.

Presenter: Jonathon Kaesler

Organisation: Datacom

Target Audience: Cross-curriculum (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

What does the research tell us about girls in STEM? How can we make a difference? In this workshop we will look at how we can make a difference to increase the engagement and participation of girls in STEM.

Organisation: DECD

Target Audience: Design & technology (yr.6-11), Mathematics (yr.6-11), Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Be a Favourite Maths Teacher - Support Your Students to be Math-Genius - Year level focus 6-11 This workshop will help to motivate students to improve their maths skills and as a result of it they will start creating interest in maths. Interesting and easy / tricky questions, activities and games will be included to enhance the resources for teachers. This will help a teacher to be a favourite maths teacher and could help to manage behaviour in classroom through interesting maths learning. Main focus of this workshop will be year level 6-11 but it will be suitable for R-12.

Presenter: Teena Boparai

Organisation: South Australian Public Schools (TRT)

Target Audience: Mathematics (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

This workshop aims to provide ideas and resources for how teachers can go about planning STEM curriculum, for any subject, around any focus, for any cohort. We will focus on presenting a streamlined approach to writing projects, by taking a relevant starting point and use this as the foundation on which to build a project. From this, we will explore how to construct a project, the integration of Australian Curriculum, briefly look scaffolding and how this can be implemented within the classroom. Whether it’s a class of high achieving students, an after school program or a low socioeconomic school; it is possible to write and implement STEM curriculum to engage and educate students, whilst not taking weeks of your precious planning time!

Presenter: Bec Wouters

Organisation: Ocean View B-12 College

Target Audience: Science (yr.6-11)

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Earth and Environmental Science (EES) is a new Australian Curriculum SACE subject to be introduced for the first time in 2017. In this workshop, two members of the curriculum writing team, Len Altman and Kelly Sharrad, will present a brief overview and highlights, examples of the exciting teaching opportunities the subject provides and some of the tertiary study and possible STEM career pathways to which it can lead. Upcoming opportunities for more detailed PD in EES topics will be advised.

Presenter: Len Altman & Kelly Sharrad

Organisation: Geoscience Pathways project

Target Audience: Science (yr.6-11)