Over the past two terms our Year 11 STEM Mentor group, have been responsible for planning and delivering a rotation of workshops for Year 6 students. This is an annual event that we offer to Gold Coast primary schools, aimed at providing enrichment and extension for highly capable Year 6 learners. The Year 11s take complete ownership of planning the content, and running their own classrooms as “teachers" of the junior students. The event is always greeted with excitement and genuine engagement by the Year 6s, and our Year 11 students get a glimpse of the perspective of primary classroom teachers, developing and refining their classroom management in the process.
Running from 3.30-5.00 on Thursday afternoons, the program helps contribute to the development of leadership, and a culture of learning within our student body. The four workshops: “Awesome Airways" (SEHS), “Marvellous Mixtures" (Chemistry), “Phunky Physics", and “Mathematical Mysteries", delivered their final rotation on Thursday of Week 5. This brought to a close an extensive amount of work and dedication by our STEM Mentors, which will form a significant contribution toward their individual CAS requirements.
A very big thank you to all who have made this program possible, our Year 11 STEM Mentors, Mrs Jo Parks for her admin coordination, Ms Trudy Newlove for lab technical support, Mr Josh Mangal for IT support, and teachers who have helped with supervision: Mr Aaron Boulton, Mrs Leanne Reed, Mr Anir Lal, Mrs Kavitha Narasiniman, Mr Zach Russell, and Mr Brett Hillman. Thank you all very much.
Patrick Emery
Brilliant Futures Coordinator, Music Teacher / Coordinator, ToK Teacher