With the Career Links Mini EV Challenge Festival fast approaching in November, the events team recently reached out to Michael Richards of Kite Magic to run STEM-Maker workshops for students and teachers, with a view to removing obstacles to entry for the Mini EV Challenge and to teach STEM skills.
Michael Richards has over 30 years of experience teaching in schools and specialises in Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, He is also the host of our annual Mini EV Challenge which attracts attendance of around 400 local primary and high school students each year. On the 1st of August he ran two workshops, one for students and one for teachers.
The student workshop took place at St Pius X High School, and was attended by 38 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from St Pius, St Francis Xaviers (Belmont), St Columba’s Adamstown and St Pauls, Gateshead.
The workshops offered students a fun and hands on learning experience aimed at stimulating an interest in STEM, an exploration of STEM related career pathways and encouragement to be part of the environmental solutions for Newcastle’s future. They learnt about renewable energy sources and discussed the sustainable practices that have been used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for thousands of years to care for country.
Students experimented with solar panels, built their own solar vehicles and then raced them against each other in an exciting finish. Students learnt that their design decisions impact performance and they assessed what the most successful vehicles had in common. Each student was given a free solar vehicle kit and encouraged to participate in the Mini EV Challenge, with registration fees waived. This capacity building workshop has an underlying emphasis on the development of employability skills such as team building, STEM, innovation and problem solving.
The teacher workshop was held in the evening at Newcastle TAFE, Tighes Hill Campus and was attended by 18 primary and high school teachers who were not all from STEM related backgrounds. The aim was to overcome any obstacles these teachers face in teaching STEM and build confidence by providing them with everything they need to make learning fun for students. The teachers were taught how to build solar vehicles and were able to ask Michael any question that would empower them to pass on their newfound skills to their students back in the classroom. The teachers were provided with a free solar vehicle kit to take back to school and registration fees for participation in the Mini EV Challenge were waived. The workshops effectively extended the reach of the Mini EV Challenge to schools that have not previously participated. These teachers are now armed with the knowledge to engage students and incorporate solar vehicle construction and STEM into their curriculum.
The workshops were free to attend, and this was made possible through funding from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources via the Maker Projects – Community STEM Engagement grants awarded to the Youth Futures Network, of which, Career Links is a member. Developing future fit skills in our youth is an exciting endeavour. The collaboration across regional communities through the Youth Futures Network and the departmental funding that enabled these opportunities for our young people has been highly rewarding for everyone involved and we look forward to more projects in the future.
The STEM Makers Workshops were run in conjunction with the Mini EV Festival which is sponsored by Regional Development Australia – Hunter, Orica, Port Waratah Coal Services, Newcastle TAFE, Port Authority of NSW, Hunter Innovation & Science Hub, and Kite Magic. Thanks to all our sponsors and collaborators!