Year 5/6 GoSTEM Challenge
On Friday 25 November, we had 21 groups of Year 5 and 6 girls from 11 different local primary schools come to the College to compete in the 2022 GoSTEM (Girls of STEM) Challenge. Teams completed three different challenges which were carefully designed, prepared and run by our amazing Year 9 Catalyst class.
The groups were wonderfully cared for by Year 7 and 10 helpers and Mrs Lahood, Mrs Parker and Mrs Parsons helped the Year 9s run their activities.
Each challenge earned their team points. At the end of the day, winning teams were 3rd place Austral Public School, 2nd place St Clare’s Catholic Primary School and 1st place St Justin’s Catholic Primary School. Prizes and certificates were distributed, and everyone felt the day was a huge success.
Year 9 Catalyst had this to say about the day:
“This was an exciting experience having younger girls come to school who are interested in STEM and it was fun to challenge them and see their creativity. The girls were amazing to spend time with and had very insightful observations and I enjoyed giving a few hours of my day to work with them. We used engineering skills to build solar cars to race and it was really amusing to watch them race their cars.” Georgina V.
“It was a good experience to be able to plan and teach things to younger children using the knowledge we have learnt. I would definitely suggest that others plan a similar day and suggest this day and activity to other primary schools.” Madeleine M.
“The STEM day we had on Friday was an exciting experience. I suppose it was daunting at first because we were worried that all our effort, time and planning put into the day would somehow not work. But those doubts were soon eradicated as the day ran smoothly. The girls felt challenged and they all had fun. I enjoyed listening to their collaborations and seeing our weeks of planning come together. The rooms were constantly filled with laughter, collaboration and teamwork.” Oreoluwa A.
And Year 5/6 evaluations:
What did you like best?
“I liked all the different activities and how well planned and fun they were” Student, St Justin’s Catholic Primary School.
“I liked all the activities and how the helpers were very supportive” Student, Macquarie Fields Public School.
“Everything, mainly the light activity; it was AWESOME 5 stars!” Student, Austral Public School.
Thank you to Year 9 Catalyst, Mrs Parker, Mrs Lahood, Mrs Parsons and our Year 7 and 10 helpers, you made this day amazing.
Jessica Thomas - STEM Integrator and Science Teacher
