Most conferences currently being offered on STEM, STEAM and Entrepreneurship tend to be targeted towards teachers and involve a series of speakers and the occasional mini-workshops. This conference is designed to be different. This conference is designed by students and teachers for students and teachers.
The intent of the It Takes a Spark EDU Conference is to bring together Students and their Teachers to connect with inspiring industry role models, share their current school based activities and projects using an authentic sharing and experiential model, create networks of teachers and student teams, and solve social justice design challenges.
The participation of the students is as important as teachers as our intent is to ignite, empower and nurture both to be leaders of STEM and Entrepreneurship within their schools. This is a conference designed and led by students and teachers for students and teachers.
Teachers will have both formal and informal opportunities to speak to other teachers who have enacted programs and activities in their schools and get their questions answered.
The workshops and social justice design challenges are all hands-on so students and teachers will experience first-hand what it is like to be part of great STEM and entrepreneurial learning. This will spark new ideas about curriculum and pedagogy.
Who Should Attend
- Students – those who are already (or aspire to be) STEM Leaders in your school
- Teachers – those who have little experience and those who have a lot
- Heads of Learning Areas / Curriculum – who wish to discuss how to create trans-disciplinary units that are powerfully engaging
- Principals and Deputy Principals – to witness what is possible by embedding the Technologies Curriculum in your school
INTRODUCING THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS.....
DR NATASHA HURLEY-WALKER
International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research
DR HEIDI PASS
Consulting Geochemist-Geologist and STEM Advocate
Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker has been working with a new radio telescope in outback Western Australia to create a map of the entire sky. Her radio images allow you to see not just our solar system, or our own Milky Way, but some of the most distant objects in the Universe: supermassive black holes emitting cosmic jets into space billions of light years away. She is a passionate science communicator and has spoken at many WA outreach events, radio and TV and was named one of the ABC’s Top 5 Scientists for 2018.
Dr Heidi Pass is a keen speaker, a passionate leader and inspiring pioneer and STEM role model. One of two women globally to achieve the role of Chief Geochemist at a major mining company, she uses her analytical mind, ore deposit knowledge and natural curiosity to unlock the Earth’s secrets in the search for gold deposits. Heidi’s adventurous spirit has taken her from the Arctic wilderness to the rugged Australian Outback and most recently Antarctica, as part of the largest ever expedition of women to the frozen continent. She has a love of Latin dancing and often has beach sand between her toes.
PROGRAM
We will have the brightest educators, organisations and students who are passionate about STEM lead either Teacher Oriented Mini-Master Classes and/or Student Oriented DigiDesign Mini Workshops. These sessions are short, sharp action packed with activities / communications. No waffle!
Teacher Mini-Master Classes – 40 minutes
Who will present: teachers / university / industry / sponsors
Audience: Teachers
Embedding STEM into curriculum
Showcase projects, eg app design, creativity, circular design
Beginning to advanced teachers
Brilliant PD and conference presenter
Share knowledge and create networks
DigiDesign Mini Workshops – 40 minutes
Who will present: students / teachers / university / sponsors / organisations
Audience: Students Years 4 to 10 and Teachers
Students inspiring students
Interactive, hands on STEM or entrepreneurial activities
Grow in confidence by sharing ideas / innovation
Unique public speaking opportunity
Participate in Problem Solvers Design Challenges.
In the past we had challenges varying from Shaky Solutions – Earthquake simulator, Bee-pocalypse, TurtleGate, Self-Drive Cars, and Coding for Disaster Relief.
Each session will have a different real life design or STEM challenge to solve aimed at Year 4 to 10 students and their teachers.
This session is an opportunity for schools, universities, industry, or community organisations to pose real life design challenges and lead student through the design process to ideate and present possible solutions.
TEACHER MINI-MASTER CLASSES
Cyber Teacher – Starting Up in Cyber Security
Donna Buckley & Elliot Rosignoli
John Curtin College of the Arts
How Educational Neuroscience Makes Teaching & Learning Easier, Enjoyable, Engaging & Effective!
Tammy-Anne Caldwell & Todd Budden
Above & Beyond Education
Aquaponics – not just a vegie patch!
Cat Donnelly
All Saints’ College
Practical Strategies for Developing STEM Learners
Johanna Stalley
STEM Learning Project – SciTech
Design Process Foundations
Sarah Hill and Students
Yidarra Catholic PS
How to run a STEAM project in 8 lessons
Anne Dinh & Helen Walker
St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls
DIGIDESIGN MINI WORKSHOPS
The Secret Science of Cryptography
Donna Buckley and students
John Curtin College of the Arts
Design a Playground: Minecraft Architecture
Joshua Jardine, Laura Yeoh and students
Willetton PS
Creating, Coding and CoSpaces VR
Year 7 students and Marianne Beattie
All Saints’ College
Build and Race a Solar Car
Year 8 Students
All Saints’ College
Invention Test!
Year 5 students & Karen Donnelly
St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls
The Elevator Pitch – An introduction to Design Thinking
Marianne Beattie and Cat Donnelly
All Saints’ College
Ethical Hacking with Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Challenges (Senior)
Kerrie Beech and students
All Saints’ College
Cybersecure, not just Cybersafe (Junior) – Using puzzles to hack the system and increase knowledge of cybersecurity
Kerrie Beech and students
All Saints’ College
Engineering Design – Using Hydraulics Kits to Promote Critical Thinking and Investigation
Year 9 & 10 Students
Joseph Banks Secondary College
Arduino in the Classroom
Year 6 students & Sheree Pudney
CSIRO STEM Professionals in Schools Partner
St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls
The Global Goals Escape Room
Year 7 Students, Alexandra Myer & Jeanette Steers
Bob Hawke College
Amazing Native Plants
Sarah Hill and Students
Yidarra Catholic PS
Cool Competitive Coding
Vinitha Lobo
St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls
Data Science: The “Truth” is out there!
Courtney Weaver
Carine Senior High School
STEM: From school to the real world
Nick Coplin
KodeKlix
There is No Planet B (Secondary)
Lacey Filipich
Maker Kids Club
Little J’s Playground
Students and Teachers
Presbyterian Ladies College: Junior School
CoSpaces and Virtual Reality in Science
Year 9 students and Renae Jackson
Ashdale Secondary College
Virtual Reality: Beyond the Headset
Kay Hargreaves and Courtney Carr
Women In Technology WA
Financial Lit-eracy for Gangstaz
Kareem Rouda and students
Ashdale Secondary College
eV Challenge
Clay Woolcock and students
Comet Bay College
Bike GP
Clay Woolcock and students
Comet Bay College
STEM EXPO SESSIONS
STEM Outreach Program
Earth Science WA
Find Out How Your Brain Works and How You Can Make It Happier & Smarter!!
Above & Beyond Education
Backyard Solar Cars
Year 8 Students, All Saints’ College
Kodeklix
Nick and Ellie Coplin
Kodeklix
Simple Machines
Sarah Hill and Students
Yidarra Catholic PS
Precious Plastic: how to design and make useful things with recycled plastic
All Saints’ College + Microplastix
NXplorers
Year 8 Students
Lynwood Senior High School
Exploring VR and AR in a school
Debbie Yates
Ashdale Secondary
Risky Business
Helena Nicholson and students
Dunsborough PS + Robin McKean
CSER University of Adelaide
Project Utopia
Leanne Winter and Year 7 students
All Saints’ College
Engineers Make Things Happen
Engineers Australia WA
PROBLEM SOLVER SESSIONS
Pipeline STEM Challenge
Cecily Arkell
Earth Science WA
The Gift of Concrete!
Nathaniel Bolt
Wanneroo SC
Green Lab Challenge
Catrina Luz Aniere, Dr Jana Soderlund and MK students
Millennium Kids Inc
Designing for Global Equity
Kim Flintoff
Curtin University
The SOLE of STEM
Students from Beaconsfield Primary School
Coding drones to solve problems
Darryl Hunt, Mark Major and students
Rivervale PS
There is No Planet B (Primary)
Lacey Filipich
Maker Kids Club
Nexus Thinking (Food, Water, Energy, Waste)
Year 8 Students, Kimberley Annear & Nadene Claydon
Lynwood Senior High School
Around YOUR World in Eighty Minutes – A STEAMpunk Excursion
Gry Stene, STEAM Engine Global and Parkwood PS students
STEAM – Sounds That Electronic Artists Make
Drew Mayhills
Duncraig Senior High School
FLOW OF THE DAY
TIME
EVENT / ACTIVITY
LOCATION
8.15 AM
REGISTRATION, COFFEE/TEA & NETWORKING
8.40 AM
MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Welcome to Participants, Set up for the Day, Housekeeping
9.00 AM
Keynote Speaker – Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker
9.40 AM
TEACHER ORIENTED MINI-MASTER CLASSES (Rotation 1)
- 40 min sessions
- Parallel sessions
- Presented by attending teachers / universities / industry
- Mini-master classes for teachers to explore specific aspect of embedding STEM in their curriculum (e.g. App design, Creativity, Circular Design, Integrated STEM, etc.)
- Various sessions will address beginning teachers, next step and extending
Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required
9.40 AM
DIGIDESIGN MINI-WORKSHOPS + STEM Expo (Rotation 1)
- 40 min sessions
- For teachers and students
- Parallel workshop stations
- Workshops demonstrate hands-on STEM and / or entrepreneurial activities for Year 4 to 10 students
- Presented by attending students / teachers / universities / sponsors / organisations
Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required
10.25 AM
MORNING TEA
An opportunity to network with other teachers and students, and explore trade displays.
10.55 AM
PROBLEM SOLVERS
- 80 min session – parallel sessions aimed at Year 4 to 10 students
- This session is an opportunity for universities, industry, schools, or community organisations to pose real life design challenges and lead students through the design process to ideate and present possible solutions.
Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required
12.20 PM
LUNCH
An opportunity to network with other teachers and students, and explore trade displays.
1.10 PM
Keynote Speaker – Dr Heidi Pass
1.50 PM
TEACHER ORIENTED MINI-MASTER CLASSES (Rotation 2)
- 40 min sessions
- Parallel sessions
- Presented by attending teachers / universities / industry
- Mini-master classes for teachers to explore specific aspect of embedding STEM in their curriculum (e.g. App design, Creativity, Circular Design, Integrated STEM, etc.)
- Various sessions will address beginning teachers, next step and extending
Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required
1.50 PM
DIGIDESIGN MINI-WORKSHOPS + STEM Expo (Rotation 2)
- 40 min sessions
- For teachers and students
- Parallel work stations
- Workshops demonstrate hands-on STEAM and / or entrepreneurial activities for Year 4 to 10 students
- Presented by attending students / teachers / universities / sponsors / organisations
Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required
2.35 PM
WHERE TO FROM HERE
Student Session
- Awarding of prizes to attendess, conference feedback
- Opportunity for teachers and students to meet with university and industry experts, expert teachers and inspiring students.
Teacher Session
- The intent of this session is to build connections and networks to continue growing and learning after the conference.
3.05 PM
CLOSE OF CONFERENCE
Invitation to be on the Steering Committee for the following year.
Conference Steering Committee
Samantha Rees – All Saints’ College
Laura Strentz – All Saints’ College
Cat Donnelly – All Saints’ College
Marianne Beattie – All Saints’ College
Courtney Weaver – Carine Senior High School
Johanna Stalley – Scitech
Adrian Bertolini – Spark EDU Conferences
Kim Flintoff – Curtin University
Lacey Filipich – Women in Technology WA (WiTWA)
Natalie Simms – Lynwood Senior High School
Alexandra Myer – Bob Hawke College
Karen Donnelly – St Hilda’s College
Charissa Efthyvoulos – Comet Bay College
It was fantastic. Our girls could not stop talking about it. It appealed to all of our girls in different ways and at different levels. Some of our girls thoroughly enjoyed the collaborative activities and hands-on activities and some of our girls thoroughly enjoyed talking with the guest speakers and presenters. It had something for everyone. The teachers we took also thoroughly enjoyed the conference and were inspired with the activities presented.
Toowoomba Teacher,
Toowoomba Region State School"I used to think STEAM was going to be boring because it was hard but now I think it is fun even if it is a bit challenging"
Student Testimonial,
Student participant"I understand that Science is so much more than just about scientists and I can enter a path or career that involves Science and I can solve world problems"
Student Testimonial,
Student participant“I attended the It takes a Spark Conference on Friday - it was wonderful! I really enjoyed the sessions and can see ways to incorporate them into incursions and excursions for blind and vision impaired students. It was also a great chance to network and see students participating in the activities. Thank you again.”
Katie Niedda,
Sensory Vision Education, School of Special Educational Needs: Sensory"Many thanks for such a well organised and well run conference. From our perspective and the feedback from others, it was a resounding success."
Jacqui Butler,
Strategic Technology, John Curtin College of the Arts“Thank you, I greatly benefited from attending the conference and hope to attend future conferences and recommend it to my peers.”
Samina Hasan,
Student Teacher 2nd Yr Masters, University of MelbourneSpark Scholarship
Silver Sponsor
