What are other schools doing? You might be happy with what your school is doing with STEM or you might not. However I think the best way to form an opinion is to know what other schools are doing around Australia and then you can yardstick your school against them. So I will now do a short tour around Australia to showcase what some schools are getting their kids into. Gordon East Public School in NSW runs a robotics program as part of the curriculum. All students from 2-6 get one hour per week in a dedicated "Lego Robotics Room". The school has an excellent array of resources and steps the children through the Lego Wedo platform in years 3 and 4 before moving to the more advanced NXT robots in years 5 and 6. Rostrata Primary School in WA is fortunate to have on staff a Science Specialist Support Teacher who was a top ten finalist in the Global Teacher Prize awards in 2016. Rick Johnson's students get to work in the school's (and Australia's first) science laboratory designed specifically for young children.They work with augmented reality, 3D printing and robotics. Holy Family Primary School in the ACT has collaborated with the two local universities to develop key learning experiences which become the STEM units that the children work through. The outcomes of these are monitored and measured by the universities for the growth in ‘thinking’ generated by the activities.  Woodend Primary School in Victoria has facilitated the training of two maths and science specialists who then mentored other teachers in the school. They provide a rich science program and run regular STEM days and a STEM club. The newest primary school in QLD is near Caloundra and is set to open in 2018 and will have a robotics lab, recording studio, innovation hub and an indoor sports and performance centre. IONA Presentation Primary School in WA has created a Makerspace which is equipped with resources to allow learning in coding and robotics, engineering and electronics. The school also has teams which participate in the Australia wide First Lego League robotics competition. What sets these schools apart is a willingness to embrace the advice of experts and the direction given by government that STEM literacy is vitally important to the children of today. They have come up with not just a vision but a plan of how to realise that vision and they are implementing it. The students then reap the rewards! If your school is not Transforming STEM Teaching then there are extra-curricular activities you can do at a cost.

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Stuff in the news Apple CEO Tim Cook: Learn to code, it’s more important than English as a second language - what I am saying is that this is a language that you can [use to] express yourself to 7 billion people in the world. An article from CNBC 12 October 2017 STEM enrolments show shift in gender equity - It’s gone widely unreported that the new data from the Department of Education and Training’s u-Cube stats shows rare good news in changing perceptions of STEM. An article from EducationHQ 16 October 2017 This is the one skill your child needs for the jobs of the future - The World Economic Forum has just released its Human Capital Report with the subtitle “Preparing People for the Future of Work”. An article from the World Economic Forum website 15 September 2017

Stuff to buy Coding Books for Young Kids - The Tech Age Kids Blog has put together a list of coding related books for younger kids. *At this point in time I earn no money from any product I list and I am not affiliated with any other company.

Stuff in education How to Flatten Your Classroom and Encourage Authentic Writing Through Blogging - Blogging allows connections with others and can provide immediate feedback. It is one way to encurage kids to write. An article from Edsurge 7 December 2016. We must get school leaders to see the value of investing time and money into Professional Development - Keeping up with the latest skills and technology is challenging, and many times, educators simply don’t know what technologies are available to help them in their classrooms. An article from Daily Edventures10 October 2017. Twenty ideas for our schools and politicians in the new machine age - 20 ideas for how our schools, policies and mindsets need to change if Australia is to best prepare for the changes to come.An article from the Brisbane Times 20 October 2017

Stuff to do Australia Wide Code Camp - Three day holiday program is now open for bookings. RoboGals - Register to be the first to book for workshops on 15 and 16 December 2017. 5 Podcasts That Will Change The Way Your Kids See The World (and that you’ll enjoy too) - A list of five podcasts that will entertain your kids and they will learn something along the way! Give a Child the Gift of Science - A great collection of activities you can do at home CSIRO CREST Program - CREativity in Science and Technology. Engage your students with open-ended science investigations and technology projects through the CREST program. - - - Bricks 4 Kidz® | Awesome Fun With LEGO® Bricks  Young Engineers Australia - Provides an engaging, hands-on learning platform using LEGO® and K’nex® assembly kits CoderDojo - A volunteer run programming club Code Club Australia - A global network of coding clubs for kids aged 9 to 11.

Stuff to do in Brisbane Brainiac Live - Join the Brainiacs for an actioned-packed hour of incredible experiments and explosive high energy entertainment. 9-13 January 2018. - - - SLQ Digital Futures - Each year the State Library of Queensland presents a theme of interest to the Queensland community. Throughout 2017, they invite you to join in exploring Digital Futures. STEM in a Box has ongoing coding, robotics and 3D printing activities Brisbane Library Service has purchased the very flash NAO Robot and is showing it off in various libraries. The Cube at QUT has a number of changing programs.  Brisbane Planetarium - Features entertaining and informative shows for adults and children STEMPUNKS STEM classes for kids in Brisbane STEAMPUNX - Not to be confused with the organisation above! Offers in-school and out of school workshop programs Flying Fox Studios - A studio offering programs in the arts, music and construction areas from babies to teenagers in Brisbane Building Block Studio | Learning Activity Centre in Brisbane For Budding Coders And Engineers Fun Chess Classes For Kids in Brisbane | Chess Mates Red Cat Science | Kids get to do what they can't at school It's Rocket Science School Incursions - Educational and fully interactive project based rocket science incursions for primary and secondary schools in a safe and empowering learning environment.

3D Printing. What's that about? You have probably heard about 3D printing but maybe don't know how it works and what it is used for. So firstly let's do a quick explanation of the most common technology. 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing whereby the object is built up in layers. Each layer is about 1/10th of a millimetre thick. The printer takes material (usually a type of plastic), melts it and then forces it through a tiny nozzle before  laying it down on the print bed. A quick 2 minute video showing this in action is here. Before the printer can do any of this the object has to be modelled in 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. There are free packages available to do this. I use TinkerCad but there are many others. If you aren't that skilled at this (like me!) then you can look at communities like Thingiverse where others put their creations online for you to download and then print at home. Once you have the file from the CAD program (usually a STL file) then you upload that into your printer's software which will slice the object into thin layers and add weak supporting columns to any overhanging parts. The supporting material has to be broken off carefully by you after the print is completed. Finally the printer can start but it is a fairly slow process. Something the size of your pinkie would take around 1 hour. So why do schools get these? Some might because they think it is a cool new gadget but as with all things I have been talking about the first thing to do before getting a 3D printer is to do some planning. The 3D print can be the final outcome of a project or it can be just a component of a larger project. Regardless, the 3D print is a means to an end so it is the end that needs to be focused upon.  So what have schools done with them? Often schools do a geography project where the school is mapped out and then drawn on paper or created with craft materials. Schools with a 3D printer can create scale models of the buildings and put together a replica of the whole school. Another school has done a pollution project and 3D printed their design solution to the problem.  So absolutely 3D printers can value add to the curriculum but it needs to be part of a broader plan to meet the Australian Government's goal to restore the focus on STEM. It will require upfront funding for (most importantly) teacher training and the printer (may need multiple due to the printing speed) and then some ongoing funding for consumables and maintenance.

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Stuff in the news Kids have a fear of it': Teachers leading national shift in how maths is taught- About 300 teachers are leading a change in the way maths is taught as part of a bid to arrest Australian students' declining or stagnating numeracy results and reverse the drop in students choosing to study maths after year 10. An article from the Brisbane Times 8 October 2017. Dalby, Chinchilla students to tackle drones, 3D printing - Year 8 students from Dalby and Chinchilla will enter the world of digital technology tomorrow when they learn not only how to fly drones, but also how to print 3D parts and build them. An article from the North Queensland Register 10 October 2017. Fareed Zakaria: STEM Education Is Important, But Not Everything - Fareed Zakaria discusses tech's effect on global events and preparing kids for an increasingly technical world. An article from PC Magazine 26 August 2017.

Stuff to buy Coding and Computing Books for Children 8+ - The Tech Age Kids blog has put together a list of the newest coding books to hit the market.  *At this point in time I earn no money from any product I list and I am not affiliated with any other company.

Stuff in education All Canberra secondary public school students to get Chromebook in 2018 - The ACT continues to roll out Chromebooks in all its schools. Chromebooks provide a cost effective yet fully capable IT solution. An article from the Canberra Times 30 October 2017. Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) - A play-based digital learning program for children in preschool to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). One hundred preschools across Australia have been selected to take part in the ELSA Pilot. Malaysian educators head to space academy to boost STEM teaching - For one week, 15 Malaysians trained like they were going to be the next Neil Armstrong – simulating space missions, coding, survival training, learning flight dynamics – at a space academy in the United States. An article from Study International 10 August 2017.

Stuff to do Australia Wide Contemporary practices in STEM education - This will be a live streamed event of interest to teachers and parents. It is part of Monash University's "Engaging STEM Education. Keeping Teachers at the Cutting Edge" series. 9 November 2017 5 Podcasts That Will Change The Way Your Kids See The World (and that you’ll enjoy too) - A list of five podcasts that will entertain your kids and they will learn something along the way! Give a Child the Gift of Science - A great collection of activities you can do at home CSIRO CREST Program - CREativity in Science and Technology. Engage your students with open-ended science investigations and technology projects through the CREST program. - - - Bricks 4 Kidz® | Awesome Fun With LEGO® Bricks  Young Engineers Australia - Provides an engaging, hands-on learning platform using LEGO® and K’nex® assembly kits CoderDojo - A volunteer run programming club Code Club Australia - A global network of coding clubs for kids aged 9 to 11.

Stuff to do in Brisbane Brainiac Live - Join the Brainiacs for an actioned-packed hour of incredible experiments and explosive high energy entertainment. 9-13 January 2018. - - - SLQ Digital Futures - Each year the State Library of Queensland presents a theme of interest to the Queensland community. Throughout 2017, they invite you to join in exploring Digital Futures. STEM in a Box has ongoing coding, robotics and 3D printing activities Brisbane Library Service has purchased the very flash NAO Robot and is showing it off in various libraries. The Cube at QUT has a number of changing programs.  Brisbane Planetarium - Features entertaining and informative shows for adults and children STEMPUNKS STEM classes for kids in Brisbane STEAMPUNX - Not to be confused with the organisation above! Offers in-school and out of school workshop programs Flying Fox Studios - A studio offering programs in the arts, music and construction areas from babies to teenagers in Brisbane Building Block Studio | Learning Activity Centre in Brisbane For Budding Coders And Engineers Fun Chess Classes For Kids in Brisbane | Chess Mates Red Cat Science | Kids get to do what they can't at school It's Rocket Science School Incursions - Educational and fully interactive project based rocket science incursions for primary and secondary schools in a safe and empowering learning environment.