ZOOMING INTO STEM

The Cathedral School Grade 8 students have flown into interactive drone lessons as a fun way of incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ( STEM) into the classroom.

The school partnered with drone training and education organisation She Flies to give boys and girls the chance to experience drone technology themselves and learn about all the possibilities the technology offers.

Year 8 student Nathan Wright said he loved coding and playing with the drones.

“My favourite part was coding because it had so much more potential, I would love to do it again,” he said.

“I may like a job in coding but I know that there is more to unlock so if an opportunity came around I may like to engineer new technology and code it, but I am still understanding it.

“Learning STEM is important because as we move into the future and the more technology we will gain, we need to learn how to use STEM so we understand what to do.”

She Flies Instructor Kerry Beggs said the program brought drones and STEM applications used in real life into the classroom.

“The future of our economy relies greatly on people with STEM skills,” Dr Beggs said.

The program was initially introduced to the Year 8 students with plans already in place to expand the program into Year 7.

Students have already had a taste python coding, interface design and data manipulation, robotics, prototyping and more.

Year 8 Digital Technology teacher Tiina Kauppila said the partnership with She Flies allowed students to test a broader variety of resources and gain new skills.

“She Flies has developed, delivered and refined their programs to deliver current best practice in this area,” she said.

“Having them come into the school not only benefits the students but also develops the skills of staff in these specialised technologies and helps us to implement our own programs.”

Ms Kauppila said the Digital Technologies focus was directed at using technology for problem solving.

“The opportunity to use a variety of technologies, apply problem solving processes and experiential learning allows students to develop 21st century skills,” she said. “The skills they learn will be far broader reaching than just in the IT classroom.”