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

A one-day STEM conference for innovative educators exploring student-centred 21st century learning practices

Be inspired by future focused presenters, supported by a series of case studies and hands-on workshops, across all education sectors K – 12.

Hear from and work with a range of speakers, including world leading inspirational thinker, Lee Watanabe Crockett, who will engage, excite and challenge delegates as he explores how we prepare global digital citizens of the future.

Designed to share pioneering and innovative practice, this conference is for all educators with an interest in exploring student-centred 21st century learning practices in STEM and beyond.

The conference will be opened by
Her Excellency the Honourable Kerry Sanderson AC
and feature a video address from
Chief Scientist of WA Peter Klinken

Programming computers is a piece of cake. Or so the world’s digital-skills gurus would have us believe. From the non-profit Code.org’s promise that "Anybody can learn!" to Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s comment that writing code is "fun and interactive," the art and science of making software is now as accessible as the alphabet

Both project-based learning and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education are growing rapidly in our schools. Some schools are doing STEAM, some are doing PBL, and some are leveraging the strengths of both. Both PBL and STEAM help schools target rigorous learning and problem solving. As many teachers know, STEAM education isn't just the course content—it’s the process of being scientists, mathematicians, engineers, artists, and technological entrepreneurs. Here are some ways that PBL and STEAM can complement each other in your classroom and school.

Students now deciding whether to pursue arts or sciences face an uncertain future: While automation is just starting to impact the workforce, Lee believes that 50% of jobs held by humans today will be automated in 10 years, extrapolating from an often-cited 2013 Oxford study. Jobs that require “less than five seconds of thinking” will be among the first to disappear, Lee says. He offers receptionists and factory workers as examples, which have already faced some level of automation. Next will be jobs that rely on crunching numbers, where data is available to make decisions, like bankers, traders, and insurance adjusters.

Traditional speakers mechanically vibrate to produce sound, with a moving coil or membrane pushing the air around it back and forth. It is a bulky technology that has hardly changed in more than a century.
This innovative new technique involves no moving parts. A layer of the atomically thin material graphene is rapidly heated and cooled by an alternating electric current, and transfer of this thermal variation to the air causes it to expand and contract, thereby generating sound waves.
Though the conversion of heat into sound is not new, the Exeter team are the first to show that this simple process allows sound frequencies to be mixed together, amplified and equalised - all within the same millimetre-sized device. With graphene being almost completely transparent, the ability to produce complex sounds without physical movement could open up a new golden generation of audio-visual technologies, including mobile phone screens that transmit both pictures and sound.

Twenty minutes into Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, I realized I know the actress for an embarrassing reason. We're introduced to one of the defining moments of Lamarr's career. She appears nude, hiding in some bushes in a 1933 black-and-white Czech-Austrian movie called Ekstase (or Ecstasy), which I first saw in a German art museum earlier this year. Back then, as executive producer Susan Sarandon put it, "She was the first woman to reenact an orgasm on screen!" I wish I knew Lamarr for a nobler reason, but I was just one of many who associated the actress with her less-savory exploits.

Regardless of whether you remember Lamarr, or what you know her for, her achievements are many -- that much Bombshell makes clear. She was a hardworking actress, a determined producer, a patriotic supporter of American troops, a wife (many times over), an unpredictable mother and an icon of Hollywood glamour. But one title for which Lamarr never received real recognition during her life was that of inventor.

Companies are now offering robotics-as-a-service to help customers with management tasks.

Neuroscientist-turned-artist Greg Dunn created these amazing images by turning information about how the brain processes information into etched pieces of art

On Wednesday 21 June at 4 pm (AEST) Splash will host a live chat with physics teacher and science communicator Sue Farroukh. Sue will talk about teaching STEM to high school students and she will answer the questions you post during the event.

Sue has taught in both government and independent schools throughout Sydney, but prior to teaching she worked in the engineering industry, where she saw first-hand the lack of female representation in the area of STEM outside of schools. This drew her to an all-girls school, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, where she is currently imparting her excitement and passion for her subject onto her students.

The live chat with Sue will be the last in a four-week series of conversations with experts, who are sharing ideas and offering advice to support secondary teachers on different topics. You can take part in each of the 20-minute events via Splash’s Facebook Page, where you can ask the experts questions.

Peering up, a teacher asked me, “What are we going to use it for?” as I flew our shiny new drone up between the umbrellas on the quad, past the roof of the gym, and into the low scattered clouds. The camera projected back to my iPhone, and I could see the newly planted trees in our quad, the only green for miles in the Mondrian concrete grid that is our local community.

The students and teachers in the quad all looked up too, shielding their eyes to see the drone fly. Our custodians pulled up in their cart, and my assistant principal whooped like one of the middle schoolers on my campus.

Contributed by Laura Fleming

In the near future, over one million jobs will open up in science, engineering and mathematics, but only 200,000 graduates will have the skills to fill them. As a part of education reform for the future, President Obama has consistently called for improvements in STEM education as well as sparking and fostering innovation and growth needed to improve our schools and achieve better outcomes. Expanding STEM education means building partnerships with educators, businesses and community partners to support STEM education. It also means expanding STEM education opportunities for all students.

Many efforts are underway for how to best affect systemic change in order to achieve widespread and sustained transformation of STEM education. Amongst current STEM education reform efforts is the grassroots Maker Movement, which effectively merges both the STEM initiatives the President is championing as well as innovation efforts he has supported. The Maker Movement embodies opportunities for experimentation and innovation and is associated most often with STEM-related concepts and technology-based activities.

Google has recently released a brand new version of Google Earth for both Chrome and Android. This new version has come with a slew of nifty features teachers can use for educational purposes with students in class. Following is a quick overview of the most fascinating features: