​​Our e-STEAM students made a spectacle of a performance last Friday (Oct 23) in nearly 3 hours of sharing scientific and technological findings to our invited panel of STEM industry stakeholders and well-respected educators.  

The panelists included:

Jodie-Ann Gulley - ​​Brisbane Catholic Educatiuon (BCE), Education Officer - Science and STEM

​Dr Kimberley Wilson - Australian Catholic University (ACU) Lecturer, Science and Technology, Advisory Council Member for Science Teachers' Association of Queensland, Board Director of the Australasian Science Education Research Queensland, Current research:  “Unravelling contemporary approaches to STEM Education"​

​​Melanie Meatheringham - ​Environmental Auditor, Entrepreneur, Aquaventrues - Scuba Diving and Marine Education, Coralwatch Ambassador

​Jessica Stevens - ​University of Melbourne, Asia Education Foundation (AEF), AsiaLink-BRIDGE School Partnership, Team Representative (Virtual Panelist)

​There was a real buzz as e-STEAM students prepared their display boards and prototypes for the yearly Exhibition of Learning.  Parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and teachers supported our students who celebrated their excellence; students spoke eloquently explaining the STEAM behind their creative solutions during their social enterprising pitches.

Congratulations to Ella Marshall, who was awarded Overall Best in Innovative Entrepreneurial Project.  She investigated the use of Neodymium, a rare earth permanent magnet (N52 and N35 grades) and embedded the use of biomimicry (kelp) in her design of a shark deterrent device.  Ella's high interest in conservation of marine animals, particularly sharks, steered her to lead a webinar earlier on the year with Dr Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist from Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).  Ella and I had many collaborative discussions troubleshooting the designs along with expertise from a design engineer and input from Dr Guida.  She articulated her learning about the anatomy of sharks particularly the ampullae of lorenzini, which if used strategically, may lead to conserving sharks and reduce stress when caught in shark nets.  Ella received a medal for her outstanding creative contribution to a global issue impacting sharks.  She also received a diving voucher from Aquaventures.

Other students were likewise recognised for outstanding qualities demonstrated throughout their problem-based inquiries which will be featured on our school Facebook page.  The problem-based learning inquiries were: 

• Effectivity of Using Neodymium Magnets As a Shark Deterrent Device  (Ella Marshall)
• Effectivity of Using Fermentation in Converting Food Scraps into Useable Ethanol (Jacqueline Lawler)
• Impacts of Upcycling of Plastic-Based Textiles for a Circular Fashion (Alisha Hill & Paulene Cezar)
• Impacts of Organic Shampoo Bar in De-greasing Artificial Hair Sebum (Lillian Heath & Allisa Sanaviseth)
• Impact of the Use of Motorised or Non-Motorised Billy Kart in Improving Moods and Feelings (Brady Gowlett)
• Using a Miniaturised Wind Turbine as Alternative Green Energy Source (Benjamin Fergus)
• Investigating the Use of an Alternative Underwater Habitat (Designed using Minecraft by Duncan Fekete and Tom Stibbards)
• Impacts of an Organic Wombat Habitat to Thermo-regulation of Joey or Rehabilitating Injured or Captive Wombats (Jake Knox and Olivia Fitzgerald)
• Effectivity of Using Foods with High Insoluble Fibre Content as an Alternative to Tree-Based Paper (Makaylee Howarth & Emily Stenzel)
  

Congratulations on this monumental achievement. Success requires a lot of hard work along with the right attitude. You have used both to achieve great things, and I cannot wait to see what you are going to do next with your gifts, your talents, your ideas.  I AM very proud of you.