Categories: NewsEducation

Makers to lead the future with STEM education

<h2>Budding STEM industry professionals went all out last month at the ARS Education annual STEM competition on August 27&period; <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>ARS Founder&comma; Dr Matthew Pang&comma; said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the theme for this year’s event was &OpenCurlyQuote;Makers Lead the Future&period;’  As the official education partner of Makeblock and UFactory&comma; ARS ran a full day’s competition for junior &lpar;year one &&num;8211&semi; year three&rpar; and intermediate levels &lpar;year four&plus;&rpar;”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;8654" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-8654" style&equals;"width&colon; 440px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img class&equals;" wp-image-8654" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;09&sol;entertaining-300x169&period;jpg" alt&equals;"STEM education with entertaining games&period; " width&equals;"440" height&equals;"248" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-8654" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">STEM education with entertaining games&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The morning session included pair and team events in &OpenCurlyQuote;robot football’ and &OpenCurlyQuote;balloon battle’&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These activities demand teamwork&comma; quick-thinking&comma; spatial awareness and determination&comma;” Dr Pang explained&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The afternoon session involved formal competition that tested the teams’ knowledge&comma; communication and problem solving skills&comma;” Dr Pang continued&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;8648" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-8648" style&equals;"width&colon; 297px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><img class&equals;" wp-image-8648" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;09&sol;Luke-Anna-Junior-Group-copy-202x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"297" height&equals;"441" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-8648" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">In the junior division&comma; Luke Ding &lpar;year two&rpar; from Hills Grammar and Anna Xu from Epping West Public School &lpar;year three&rpar; took first place&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>He says student enthusiasm and parental involvement during the day was testament to the entertaining and educational nature of the competition&period;  Awards and prizes flowed at the presentation ceremony&comma; including the top prize for junior and intermediate division of the latest Airblock drone&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All participants were acknowledged for their engagement and strong performance&comma; the winning girls and boys were from diverse suburbs and schools across Sydney&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;8646" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-8646" style&equals;"width&colon; 396px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img class&equals;" wp-image-8646" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;09&sol;Ivo-JIngni-Intermediate-Group-copy-300x239&period;jpg" alt&equals;"ARS winners intermediate" width&equals;"396" height&equals;"315" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-8646" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Chief judge&comma; Dr Zhuo Chen&comma; with intermediate division winners&comma; Ivo Rebase from Artarmon Public School and Jingni Liao from Beecroft Public School&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mceTemp"> <&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>First place in the intermediate group &lpar;year 4&plus;&rpar; went to year five students&comma; Ivo Rebase from Artarmon Public School and Jingni Liao from Beecroft Public School&period;  Two year six girls&comma; Lucia Jin from St Ives North Public School and Susan He from North Rocks Public School took a second place position&period;  In the junior division&comma; Luke Ding &lpar;year two&rpar; from Hills Grammar and Anna Xu from Epping West Public School &lpar;year three&rpar; took first place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;8641" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-8641" style&equals;"width&colon; 395px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img class&equals;" wp-image-8641" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;09&sol;Lucia-Susan-Intermediate-Group-copy-300x193&period;jpg" alt&equals;"ARS" width&equals;"395" height&equals;"254" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-8641" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Chief judge&comma; Dr Zhuo Chen&comma; with the girl team who were second place winners in the intermediate division&colon; Lucia Jin from St Ives North Public School &lpar;year six&rpar; and Susan He from North Rocks Public School &lpar;year six&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><strong>The rationale behind this year’s champion theme<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Dr Pang told <em>School News<&sol;em> that with the rapid development of intelligent industries&comma; many traditional occupations will be replaced by artificial intelligence &lpar;AI&rpar; by the time our children have grown up&period;  Traditional examination-oriented education will be replaced by performance tasks connected to job related outcomes demanding creativity and innovative thinking&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ARS&&num;8217&semi;s mission is to enable all children to discover and reach their potential to succeed in such a society through STEM education&comma;” Dr Pang noted&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Team building&comma; which develops communication and cooperation skills&comma; is an important aspect of ARS’s strategy&period;  Critically&comma; however&comma; at ARS an individual student’s success is fast-tracked by vertical course structures that allow students to progress according to their ability&comma; not their age&period;” <&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;8647" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-8647" style&equals;"width&colon; 918px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img class&equals;" wp-image-8647" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;09&sol;competition-300x185&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Makers Lead the Future Championship" width&equals;"918" height&equals;"566" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-8647" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Makers Lead the Future Championship 2017<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We incorporate fascinating and enjoyable games into our projects so that student learning and engagement is enhanced&period;  Our annual competitions provide a worthwhile challenge&comma; are a student assessment tool and are also part of the ongoing evaluation of our teaching philosophy and methodology&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Suzy Barry

Suzy Barry is a freelance education writer and the former editor of School News, Australia.

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