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Earlier this Term, over 260 Year 7 Students finished their 5-week long Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) unit. Students designed, constructed, and tested their own catapults as they launched various sized pom-poms in a STEM unit that focused on forces and simple machines.

Students worked in teams, participating in a variety of experiments to strengthen their knowledge and skills towards building and experimenting with their own catapult. They were encouraged to collaborate, problem-solve and use their creativity to solve various problems that they encountered during the unit. Students presented their understanding through the development of individual scientific posters which provided students with an assessment experience similar to assessments in the VCE science curriculum.

This was the first time the Year 7’s have been immersed into a unit-wide STEM project and Ms Amy Venema, Senior Chemistry and Junior Science teacher, recently presented her work with the STEM unit at the Science Teachers Association Victoria (STAV) 2023 Conference. Her workshop centered on the development and implementation of the unit as a way to engage and support students in Science through STEM. Ms Venema demonstrated the importance of supporting students through scaffolding and how this support can positively impact student performance and confidence levels. Ms Venema received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the session, and we look forward to seeing her continued impact on the future of STEM and science education.

Amy Venema
Senior Chemistry and Junior Science Teacher