STEM+ [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] +PLUS+

Two hundred primary schools will have classrooms converted into science laboratories over the next four years to boost STEM learning for students.

With an estimated 75 per cent of future jobs requiring critical thinking and problem-solving skills, today’s announcement will allow more primary students to conduct hands-on science experiments.

Melville Primary School science teacher Peter Bruce said a science laboratory would help develop students’ mindsets as they entered the room.  


Melville Primary School students have been visiting their local secondary school to use science facilities.
“Their natural curiosity would be boosted by having equipment on hand and models of inflatable planets and insects hanging from the ceiling,” he said.

“They’d be able to work in small teams, record observations and set up investigations that take longer to produce outcomes like salinity studies and caring for frogs.”

 Ninety percent of Australians feel science has made life easier overall. But we’re a complex nation when it comes to the finer details of how we view science and scientists.

We recently released results of the 2017 Australian Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Science (ABAS) survey, which was conducted by the Australian Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and commissioned by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

The report contains a snapshot of beliefs and attitudes of Australians towards science, and also links key attitudes and beliefs with demographic characteristics of the survey sample.

A real chance exists to bridge the gender divide in the number of girls studying maths and sciences by demonstrating how these subjects are a springboard to socially valuable, stimulating and worthwhile careers, a world-renowned researcher says.

Spark passion for computer science by volunteering in your community

How does it work?

Team up
Gather a group of undergraduates and find a community partner.

Sign up
One delegate from each teams signs up through this site.

Access resources
Sign in to your volunteer portal to access lesson plans and request a free kit of materials.

Volunteer
Begin working with kids in your community to help them experience CS!

An elementary school in Melbourne, Australia is on the forefront of the next digital revolution, teaching students about blockchain technology and its potential applications.

In Melbourne, Australia, local reports have recently focused attention on Wooranna Park Primary School, a small public institution which sits in one of country’s “most disadvantaged urban areas.” But, don’t be misled by Wooranna Park’s humble profile. The primary school is giving students a digital leg up through its pioneering education.

Play your way to Internet Awesome. 

 
Interland is an adventure-packed online game that makes learning about digital safety and citizenship interactive and fun—just like the Internet itself. Here, kids will help their fellow Internauts combat badly behaved hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies by practicing the skills they need to be good digital citizens.

Interland Certificate of Awesomeness and Badges Proof of Internet awesomeness comes in the form of an official certificate and badge for each lesson.

The UCS Science Network invites you to a webinar to learn strategies for building support for scientist engagement with the public and decision makers.

Date: Thursday, August 31
Time: 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT

This webinar will feature the following individuals and organizations that have been part of this movement, and who will discuss strategies and resources for transitioning to a culture that is more supportive of sharing science more broadly:

Elyse Aurbach-Pruitt, co-founder and co-director, RELATE (Researchers Expanding Lay-Audience Teaching and Engagement)
Nalini Nadkarni and Caitlin Weber, STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP)
Dan Pomeroy, managing director and senior policy advisor, International Policy Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

GET ON BOARD at http://www.potatopirates.game
This game is designed for ages 6 and up. With this, we are trying to make this obscure thing calling programming more accessible to everyone by gamifying it, bringing it offline and introducing a social element to encourage peer learning.

In this game you play as a Potato Pirate controlling a fleet of ships and have to eliminate all other players by attacking their ships with anti-potato attacks like mash, fry and roast. There are alliances, backstabbing, looting, plundering, hijacking and betrayal. Atop all the potato piracy, this game also covers fundamental programming concepts such as Booleans, variables, for loops, while loops, functions, control flow statements such as switch statements and conditionals.

So if you’re someone who is into potatoes, programming, piracy and party games, join the Potato Pirates crew at http://www.potatopirates.game

 The toolkit includes six sections aligned to the policy recommendations outlined by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition:

- Current Landscape and Goals: Collecting data and surveying the current landscape of computer science education and setting strategic goals.
- Diversity: Keeping equity and diversity at the forefront of the initiative.
- Teacher Pipeline: Building up teachers’ capacity to offer computer science courses through professional development, certification, and pre-service programs.
- Curriculum and Courses: Defining standards, guiding curriculum, and allowing computer science to satisfy graduation requirements.
- Outreach: Communicating with and involving stakeholders.
- Funding: Allocating and accessing funds to drive the initiative.

Eight-year-old computer prodigy Seth Yee has swapped his home in Singapore for Dandenong North, drawn by a program at a local primary school where students are learning how to build the next Bitcoin.

In what is believed to be a Victorian first, students at Wooranna Park Primary School are being taught how to use the software behind Bitcoin to create their own security-encrypted digital currency.

According to a study from Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School, 47% of jobs in the United States are "at risk" of becoming "automated in the next 20 years." PwC has similar findings, estimating that 38% of U.S. jobs are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence in the next 15 years. And while two-thirds of Americans believe robots will take over most of the workforce in the next 50 years, they're also in denial: 80% say their job will "probably" or "definitely" be around in five decades.

Here are five robots that are coming to take some jobs from unsuspecting humans:

Next-gen robots: The latest victims of workplace abuse

Robots must contend not just with internal flaws and bugs but with humans.
Recent introductions of robots to everyday scenarios have led people to initiate some intriguing forms of interaction.
Knightscope’s security bot, for example, has been harassed by kids, painted in red lipstick and used as a canvas for graffiti artists.

Will off-the-shelf hardware survive deep space?

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration will send a pair of supercomputers into space to see how they cope with high radiation events.

The experiment is being performed in preparation for a Mars mission and will last a year - the same amount of time it takes to travel to the planet.