Category: From the Field

OpenSTEM 3D Printing and Robotics @ Kilcoy Show

Last Friday and Saturday we had a great time at the Kilcoy Show (that’s a few hours North of Brisbane), showing visitors 3D printing in action and answering lots of questions on that topic – we actually printed some HO-scale train gear and miniature sheep for our model railway neighbours at the show!

We also let kids have a good play with the Mirobot drawing turtle robots and enjoying our cute robotic caterpillar.

OpenSTEM booth at Kilcoy Show 2016
The OpenSTEM booth, next to Andrew Triggs of Mt Kilcoy State School

We saw a fair amount of interest from parents and visiting teachers for our work with schools, from the workshops to our resources and complete classroom programs, of which we had some sample materials that people could browse and ask us about.

On Friday we had the opportunity to meet briefly with Deb Frecklington, QLD state MP for Nanango (Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry), and talked about the meaning and importance of STEM. Naturally STEM is critical for our agriculture as well!

Trevor Wessling (Kilcoy Show), Deb Frecklington (Nanango MP), Arjen (OpenSTEM)
Trevor Wessling (Kilcoy Show), Deb Frecklington (Nanango MP), Arjen (OpenSTEM)

Our other neighbours at the show were Mt Kilcoy State School, where teacher Andrew Triggs showed off QUT LEGO robotics. Kids enjoyed watching the Rubik cube solver – I competed with it a few times, and was done well before it was 😉

The event has inspired me to build a few more things for kids to interact with and to show how awesome electronics and robotics can be explored without requiring costly gear.

New Viking Site in North America

Vikings - painting by E.C.RasmussenThe Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America, more than 1000 years ago. The Vikings established settlements and traded with indigenous people in North America for about 400 years, finally abandoning the continent less than 100 years before Columbus’ voyage.

The story of the Vikings’ exploits in North America provides not only additional context to the history of human exploration, but also matches ideally to the study of the Geography of North America, as the names used by the Vikings for areas in North America provide a perfect match to the biomes in these regions.

Long consigned to the realms of myth within Norse sagas, the first archaeological evidence of the truth of the old stories of “Vinland” (Newfoundland) was uncovered by a Norwegian archaeologist in 1960. In recent years archaeologists have uncovered yet more evidence of Viking settlements in North America. OpenSTEM is delighted to share this story of how satellite technology is assisting this process, as we publish our own resource on the Vikings in North America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/science/vikings-archaeology-north-america-newfoundland.html

The site was identified last summer after satellite images showed possible man-made shapes under discoloured vegetation on the Newfoundland coast.

Junior Primary Students Build Stonehenge Model

Just a few weeks ago junior primary students did the Building Stonehenge Activity, as part of our Integrated History/Geography Program for Primary.

Seville Road State School on Brisbane’s south-side kindly sent us a photo to show you. This class used wooden blocks they happened to have, other classes use collected cardboard boxes.

Year 1-3 Building Stonehenge Activity
Year 1-3 Building Stonehenge Activity (Photo: Seville Rd State School)

Our materials are designed to provide a more engaging learning experience for students as well as teachers. Here, students are examining different types of calendars and ways of measuring time. Stonehenge is given as an example of a solar calendar. This leads naturally into a discussion of solstices, equinoxes and seasons.