The Independent Variable
  • Blog
  • About
  • Resources
  • Contact

#aussieED LIVE @ The Easter Show

3/19/2016

1 Comment

 
In late 2015, Brett decided to approach the Royal Agricultural Society with an idea of #aussieED teaming up with them to run a teacher-led professional development evening at the Easter Show. After a long few months of planning and organising, the event finally took place on Thursday, March 17th - the first official day of the show.

There were 500 people who had put their names down within less than 24 hours and we knew that there was lots of interest out for this event. The crowd began flowing in at 5pm, ready for the event to kick off at 5.30. We didn't quite get the whole 500 turn up, but the crowd definitely was full of teachers who were keen to learn and network around the idea of STEM and how we could use the Easter Show and their vendors with our students.

Brett started proceeding before Zeina talked about how she used the Easter Show as a problem-based learning activity with her students in an iSolve project. The students had to work out how much money they'd need for a day at the show as well as whether the show bags they wanted to buy were value for money. They also needed to use the Show's website to determine their itinerary for the day, including travel to and from the venue. 

To change up the pace a little, I ran a quick 6 question Kahoot about 'The W's of STEM' - basically who, what, where, when and why we should do STEM with our students. STEM is the use of skill sets from the science, technology, engineering and maths disciplines to solve real world problems. Students can be introduced to STEM as young you are keen to by teaching them about the world around them. Also, teachers (especially primary school teachers) need to understand that you can run a STEM class anywhere in schools - you don't need a specialised laboratory to run these types of programs. 

After me, Maggie talked Minecraft. Minecraft is an online game that, even if you haven't heard about it, your students definitely have!!! Maggie explored the possibilities of having students use Minecraft to learn about agriculture by building farms, working out the best way to look after farm animals, etc. Maggie has used Minecraft in the past to create AMAZING projects looking at the ANZAC landing as well as the Gold Rush.

Our 'regional NSW' #aussieED member, Rob, then talked 'STEM out of the City' and in particular talked about Digital Sparks as well as an amazing project he did with his daughter. Together they created and coded an electric guitar out of everyday household items (along with some wires, buttons, etc)! The audience was blown away to see that children as young as 8, as well as GIRLS (*gasp*) were interested in coding. Rob is doing some AMAZING things with the students that he teaches in an area of Newcastle, located north of Sydney.

The rest of the evening was spent in a 'Trident Challenge' where attendees were given a series of challenges to complete while investigating the vendors available in the Woolworths Food Farm at the Show. We had lots of people sharing and posting on Twitter (even though Telstra wasn't playing nice!) and ended up getting the #RASedu hashtag trending around Australia. It was great to see so many new teachers join Twitter that night as well as face to face networking take place. There really was a great buzz in the air.

The #aussieED team would like to then the #RASedu team for giving us the opportunity to work together on creating a truly valuable professional development experience for teachers in Sydney and beyond.  
1 Comment
online essay service link
2/24/2017 05:38:56 am

My best friend studied Education major in English. She wants to become a professional teacher. I will always support her dreams. I can’t wait to see her teaching many students. We are all human and we have different dreams that we need to achieve. Personally, I dream to work in a place that is not cozy and has a good environment.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Kelly Hollis

    The Global Head of Science for Education Perfect located in Sydney, Australia. 
    Interested in the integration of ICT into the Science curriculum. 
    ​#aussieED co-founder.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Boundround
    Change
    Curriculum
    Education
    Edutech
    Engagement
    Excursion
    GAFE
    Gafesummit
    Google Apps For Education
    Immersion
    Kahoot
    Passion
    PBL
    Professional Development
    Project
    Science
    Scitlap
    Sydney
    Take Aways
    Teaching
    TeachMeet
    Technology
    Tlap

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly