As part of our school’s ongoing partnership with the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN), students from Year 7 and 8 recently attended four days in the city as part of the ABCN’s STEM Innovate program.
Students participated in problem-solving activities collaborating with industry workers.
Students were surveyed to determine the effectiveness of the program. (Note the rating scale is a 1 – 7 measure with 1 being lowest through to 7 being highest rating – ie 5 – 7 is agree to strongly agree.) These results demonstrate that overall the students gained a lot from the program.
| Rating Area | Before Innovate Rating 5-7 | After Innovate Rating 5-7 |
| I am interested in STEM subjects | 55% | 100% |
| I would like to continue to study STEM subjects in the future | 65% | 90% |
| I am aware of the different types of STEM-related careers | 55% | 100% |
| I understand the link between school subjects and STEM careers | 65% | 100% |
| I understand appropriate workplace behaviour | 89% | 100% |
| I am able to think of creative solutions to problems | 52% | 85% |
| I am able to work effectively as part of a team | 46% | 85% |
| I can communicate my ideas to others | 68% | 80% |
Student Comments –
- I learnt the education requirements for their job and the work ethics that is required in a workplace. This helps me to think about my future
- I loved it especially the engineer and maths sessions
- I learnt that solving problems is not easy and also I enjoyed it.
- It was so fun
- It’s really, really fun
- I would recommend it because it’s a great way to learn how to collaborate and communicate with others, it can also help you learn new skills you can use as well as great memories.
- I would recommend this for my peers to get to know other people and to get their minds thinking about the future.
- How to share my ideas and speak more confidently
- This program has opened my mind to the different possibilities in the future.
- A new learning experience. Mentors were all very nice and helped a lot
Mentor Comments –
- Very worthwhile
- Definitely worthwhile participating in the opportunity to help students. Very bright students.
- It has been enjoyable and very satisfying in seeing the growth from the students
- Helped me re- establish some thoughts and challenges about being in high school again and how an experience like this can really influence, it certainly would have influenced me positively.
- The programs is well run, very organized and the activities are very interesting
- I have learnt a lot from the students and learnt how to guide them. Working with different kids with different personality, learn to treat each individual differently
- It has been really rewarding to spend time with people from a different generation and from different backgrounds. It took me out of my comfort zone, but in a good way.
- Give it a go, really enjoyable and provides another experience than dealing with your own kids and how to communicate with them.
- Strongly encourage and go for it! Developed presentation skills, partnerships and enabled STEM awareness.
Thank you to the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) for their organisation of this program.
Alison Ryan
STEM Leader
