The conference theme 'Adapt : Inspire - shaping the future' will highlight how STEAM learning inspires people to dream, adapt to change and shape the future.

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 STEM Conference is to bring together Students (Year 4 to 10) and 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 Digi-Design workshops and Problem Solver 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 the conference is for…

Year 4 to 10 students: those who are already (or aspire to be) STEM Leaders in your school OR students’ schools wish to spark an interest in, and engagement in STEM
Teachers: those who have little experience and those who have a lot, looking to be inspired, participate in hands-on professional learning and network with peers
Heads of Learning Areas / Curriculum: who wish to connect and elevate their STEM discipline
Principals and Deputy Principals: to witness what is possible by embedding STEM authentically in your school
…and the event is a 6 hour Professional Learning day for teachers – certificate provided.

Teacher Professional Development Stream

“Many teachers and schools are challenged by HOW to create STEM learning that develops students across the years to be the independent critical thinkers and problem solvers the world needs.

We will bring together some of Australia’s leading practitioners in the fields of design, technology, curriculum planning, student engagement and STEM learning to develop a special Teacher Professional Development stream at this year’s QLD It Takes a Spark STEM Conference.

Every session is designed to provide teachers with the insight, practical guidance and resources they need to improve their planning and practice upon return to their schools. The professional learning will support teachers no matter their prior background, confidence, or capability.”

Following 23 years teaching Primary, Secondary & Higher Education, Tim has been Adobe’s Senior Education Specialist for Asia Pacific since 2013.
A passionate advocate for creativity in education, and a well-recognised education thought leader in Australia, Tim is a regular presenter for a wide range of national and international education events. Tim has also recently released his new book The Best Way to Learn is to Make – Creativity in a Gen AI World
He regularly liaises with schools & universities focusing on enhancing creativity in education. He also manages the Adobe Education leadership and active use programs throughout Australasia and helps lead the Adobe Education Exchange which now has over 900,000 members.

DR TIM KITCHEN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
PHOEBE TOUPS DUGAS

Video games offer opportunities for play, learning, and work, but they can also propagate harm to marginalised communities. Information systems, including video games, are embedded in our lives. How can we design for joy, rather than harm?
A/Prof. Phoebe Toups Dugas "a queer, trans woman gamer" pulls apart games to understand how to make them better and how to use games to make the world a better place. This work supports underserved groups, most recently queer gamers, but previously disaster responders.
Phoebe earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University in 2010. She went on to work at the Disaster City responder training facility, then joined New Mexico State University for ten years. She co-founded the Transgender Name Change Policy Working Group, which transformed inclusive publishing practices. During her tenure, she attracted over $3 million in research funding from the National Science Foundation to support her work on disaster response. She recently relocated to Australia to join Monash University in the Faculty of Information Technology, where she is focused on transgender inclusivity in information system design.

Exertion Games Lab,
Creative Technologies Discipline Group,
Monash University

Senior Education Specialist,
Adobe

INTRODUCING THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

TEACHER MINI-MASTER CLASSES

Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 micro-credential course

Dr Tim Kitchen

Adobe Education

Implementing the STEM-PBL Framework in Primary School

Associate Professor Vinesh Chandra

Queensland University of Technology

Using Design Thinking to Help Students Partner with Real World Organisations

Tony Leung

Doncaster Secondary College

Innovation in STEM Education – Made in Sweden

Dr Eva Hartell

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Creating Impactful STEM Programs with a Digital Technologies Approach

Australian Computer Society

Maths Made Meaningful

University of Adelaide – Maths in Schools Project

STEM for Wildlife Conservation

Zoos Victoria

DIGIDESIGN MINI-WORKSHOPS - Students and/or Teachers

Conductivity with Makey Makey

St Peter Julian Eyemard Primary School

Moving and Grooving with Granny: Creating digital solutions to help our elderly exercise

Australian Computer Society

Detecting the Unseen: Dark Matter

ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics

Button it Up – Safety by Design

Rangeview Intermediate School

New Zealand

You are our next CyberHero!

La Trobe University – School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Empowering Young Voices: Becoming the storyteller for your community

Kids Cast

Rockin with robots!

Robogals Melbourne

Railway Signalling with Puffing Billy

Puffing Billy Railway

Zooming Bottle Rockets!

Monash High Powered Rocketry

Make Science a Fashion Statement

Oh Pluto

Spark the Wind Mini-Windmill Rescue

Britannica Education

Build and Code a robot in under 40 minutes

Edminds

Coding with Dash Robots

Flinders Christian Community College

Build your own Mini-BB Rovers!

Monash Nova Rover

TSAL: Technology Sparks Active Learning

Monash Motorsport

Pippi Problem-solver!

Dr Eva Hartell, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

STEAM Expo hands-on activities area

The Martian Garden

ARC Centre of Excellence for Plants for Space

Mystery Ingredient Challenge: Oz Harvest Waste Warriors Edition

OzHarvest Australia

MagLev Technology

WeBuild

Blast Off to the Virtual Universe!

OzGrav (ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery)

Inspired by Nature: Discovering design secrets from the natural world

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

Engineering in Action!

Robogals Melbourne

STEMpal: You can’t be who you can’t see!

Curiosity Factory

Discover and Do: Maths Made Meaningful

CSER and University of Adelaide – Maths in Schools Project

Cartesian Divers

Eltham Primary School

FIRST Robotics Competitions (FLL Challenge, FTC and FRC)

AI Cubed Academy

Multimedia Microscopy

Cranbourne West Primary School

IXL Maths Leaderboard Competition

IXL Learning

KidsCast – The Voice of Your Community

Kids Cast

PROBLEM SOLVERS DESIGN CHALLENGE

Game on! Using tabletop games to plan and design video games

Australian STEM Video Game Challenge

Fun Problem Solving with Lego Robots

AI Cubed Academy

Designed by Nature: Innovating with Biomimicry

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

STEM for Wildlife Conservation

Zoos Victoria

Become a disease detective!

R-Ladies Melbourne

Design Solutions via LEGO and App Prototyping

Doncaster Secondary College

Moonbase – Designing to Survive and Thrive

ARC Centre of Excellence for Plants for Space

Learn to Design Games: Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics

Monash University

Invention Remix: Tools for an Unknown Future

Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership

Sustainable Spaces

Monash Tech School

VICTORIA
THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER 2025
AGENDA

8.15 AM

REGISTRATION, COFFEE/TEA & NETWORKING

8.45 AM

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

Acknowledgement of Country, Welcome to Participants, Set up for the Day, Housekeeping

9.00 AM

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

9.40 AM

ROTATION ONE – TEACHER ONLY PARALLEL SESSIONS
Teacher Mini-Masterclass
40 minutes

Hands-on masterclass on STEM topic that will make a difference for teachers to enact in their school

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

9.40 AM

ROTATION ONE – DIGIDESIGN MINI-WORKSHOPS + STEAM Expo
40 minute session

Parallel mini-workshop sessions on specific STEM topic that link to the theme
For Teachers and Students
Demonstrate hands-on STEM activities for Year 4 to 10 students
Presented by students / educators / universities / sponsors / organisations
STEAM Expo: 10-15 min activity, moving between activities during the 40 minute session with the opportunity to engage in multiple STEM experiences

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

10.25 AM

MORNING TEA

An opportunity to network with other teachers and students, and explore EXPO

11.00 AM

ROTATION TWO – PROBLEM SOLVERS DESIGN CHALLENGE
80 minutes – parallel sessions

Aimed at Year 4 to 10 students and teachers
This session involves real life design challenges where attendees are led through the design process to ideate and present possible solutions

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

11.00 AM

ROTATION TWO – Teacher Masterclass
80 minute session

Hands-on masterclass on a STEM topic that will make a difference for teachers to enact in their school

Teacher Networking and STEM Pathways session

An opportunity to connect with other teachers and presenters to share ideas, possibilities and practices
Meet with sponsors in the STEM Expo area to discuss (without students) how they can support you in delivering and inspiring STEM in your school

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

12.25 PM

LUNCH

An opportunity to network with other teachers and students, and explore EXPO

1.00 PM

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

1.40 PM

ROTATION THREE – TEACHER ONLY PARALLEL SESSIONS
Teacher Mini-Masterclass
40 minutes

Hands-on masterclass on STEM topic that will make a difference for teachers to enact in their school

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

1.40 PM

ROTATION THREE – DIGIDESIGN MINI-WORKSHOPS + STEAM Expo
40 minute session

Parallel mini-workshop sessions on specific STEM topic that link to the theme
For Teachers and Students
Demonstrate hands-on STEM activities for Year 4 to 10 students
Presented by students / educators / universities / sponsors / organisations
STEAM Expo: 10-15 min activity, moving between activities during the 40 minute session with the opportunity to engage in multiple STEM experiences

Breakout Rooms
Pre-registration required

2.30 PM

FEEDBACK AND CONFERENCE COMPLETION

Awarding of prizes to attendees
Completion of feedback form

2.45 PM

CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

VENUE
The Knox School
220 Burwood Hwy
Wantirna South VIC 3152

DATE Thursday, 23 October 2025

TIME / AGENDA 8.15am open
8.45am start – 2.45pm finish

Read School FAQ’s – suggestions on who should attend, answers about what stage you are at and if the conference will suit, registration T&C’s, and more…

Teachers are able to attend without students
We recommend max 25 students per school with minimum teacher ratio of 1T:10S

CONFERENCE RATES

Early bird Educator / Teacher $205
Teacher presenter: complimentary*
Full fee Educator / Teacher $245
Early bird Student $30
Student presenter: $27.50*
Full fee Student: $37.50
Early bird Pre-service, Aide, Homeschool educator $79
Full fee Pre-service, Aide, Homeschool educator $99

Includes Morning tea and Lunch for Educators and Students

Early bird registration ends Friday 19th September

SUBSCRIBE FOR 2025 UPDATES

Upon registration you will receive a confirmation email and invoice, payment is via direct deposit or credit card. For full details click on the register button alternatively call Rachel on +61 (0) 411 270 277 to coordinate your registration or ask any questions. Workshop selection will open 3 to 4 weeks prior to the conference, we will email the registered teachers and contact person.

Victoria It Takes a Spark STEM Conference
Sponsors and Partners

CREATE SPARKS IN LEARNING FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS! BECOME A SPONSOR…

To discuss sponsorship contact Dr Adrian Bertolini – Conference coordinator
Email: adrian@spark-educonferences.com.au or Call +61 0 413 036 382

Sponsorship Opportunities