This week we have a swathe of new professional learning workshops for you to book into throughout Perth and the Goldfields. There’s also been a few interesting articles in the news. We’ve found some great write-ups about the reasons why we need STEM engagement and a few ways of achieving this. Plus there are some links to that ever-popular topic, women in STEM.
Upcoming STEM Learning Project workshops
Just to remind you, we have some great professional learning opportunities coming up for you in the next few months. In less than two weeks we’ll be visiting Armadale with primary and secondary workshops for the south metro region. Bookings close on the 14th September so get in quick! After that we’ll be heading even further south for two days in Esperance.
On the first day of term 4 we’ll be running a primary professional learning session in Mandurah. We’ll also be visiting Padbury for a secondary workshop on the 30th of October. And if you’re feeling organised, you can even book into a workshop on the 29th January, 2018 at Woodlupine Primary school.
As always, you can find all the details and booking links for professional learning workshops on our PL page. If you’re wondering what the session entails you can check out the PL section of our FAQ, or contact us. You can also read about what other teachers are saying here.
The how and why of increasing STEM engagement
There was a focus in STEM education news this week on how to increase engagement in STEM. The Educator Online published an article about a program called Let’s Count at work, which supports early numeracy. Adetola Salau, author of Future Readiness in Education, published an inspiring piece about the why and how of STEM engagement.
In this article a technology specialist outlines her philosophy for STEM learning and how to help children become lifelong learners and effective problem solvers.
Lastly, Dr Nigel Calder shared some thoughts on Monday about why maths is important in global problem solving. See this article for some excerpts from his lecture at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Madras.
Women in STEM
There is a big focus on getting more women into STEM; and rightly so. In the news this week there’s a write-up about a new online app developed in South Africa. Its data shows boy’s and girl’s results to be very similar. Then there’s the go-getting teacher from a Victorian primary school running a native flora mapping program just for girls.
But could assuring girls they can be good at STEM backfire? Georgetown University researchers say yes.
That’s all for this week – happy STEM-ing!