The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science joined forces with the ANU Joint Colleges of Science and the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences to deliver a jam-packed STEAM Day on Saturday 20 October.
This event introduced secondary students to the interdisciplinary nature of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM). Activities encouraged students to consider how these disciplines can be combined to solve some of the greatest issues faced by humanity.
Throughout the day, 30 students from years 9 -12 participated in four workshops. The first workshop had the students use a programming language to design digital artwork. They were then introduced to the world of electricity and power generation through a physics workshop where they made a small electrical circuit, and used hand-generators to power light bulbs.
A virtual reality (VR) tour of the new Kambri precinct was the perfect way of showing students how technology and art combine to produce an informative, interactive tool.
The final two workshops on demography and engineering encouraged critical thinking.
The demography discussions saw intense discussions on understanding and shaping the world, while the engineering workshop encouraged students to explore why we build things in a world already full of things.
The event concluded with a Q&A panel with current ANU students.
Event organiser Miss Emily O’Hara was thrilled at the attendance numbers and level of interest in the program.
“It was inspiring to witness so many self-motivated, bright minds and their passion to make a real difference to the world we live in. Students were thoroughly engaged with the program and enjoyed tackling the tough issues of mass production, population growth and exploring areas of creative coding and renewable energy ” said Emily.
Student feedback from the engineering workshop shared how insightful the session was: “I found the engineering workshop about the connections between society, environment and technology to be interesting. I was previously not aware of it.”
For more information on outreach events at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, please contact marketing.cecs@anu.edu.au