Griffith University STEM Leadership Conference 2018

On Friday 23 March, four students travelled to Brisbane accompanied by Ms Hyman to attend a STEM Leadership Conference. Jacinta Mai, Desmond Chuah, Piper Nairn and Stephan Tkatchenko, were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to represent the school and collaborate with other Griffith University Stem Ambassadors at this annual event.

The focus of the experience was to develop a strategic plan to promote the ideologies of STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - around the College and in the wider community.

Throughout the conference, we discussed the ways in which we are able to raise awareness and promote participation in the four STEM subjects. As the Science Ambassadors, we decided to focus our attention on Science Week in Term Three. We specifically planned to target middle year students and gain interest through large scale experiments and interactive opportunities so students can experience Science rather than just read or hear about it. We are particularly excited about starting to incorporate the other three strands of STEM, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics into Science week with the help of our Technology ambassadors, Piper and Stephan. At the conclusion of the conference we were invited to watch the “Mathemagician”, Arthur Benjamin, who performed an extremely intriguing show using the combination of Mathematics and magician tricks. We were amazed by his ability to square four-digit numbers in his head and stunned when he explained the simplistic mental maths he used to do it.

Reflecting upon the trip, we believe that it was a very valuable experience where we were able to develop many skills of leadership, which will aid us in the promotion of STEM. We are looking forward to sharing our ideas with the Science Committee and spreading our enthusiasm for STEM throughout the College this year.