Towards the end of March I had the pleasure of attending the Atlantic Corridor STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) 2012 Conference in Tullamore and was inspired by the speakers on the day. The speakers included: Carol Lynn Parente the producer of “Sesame Street”, Ward Van Duffel (managing director of Lego Education), Marc Watson, president of US firm Imagine Creative Technology and TEQ Games, Leena Gade (chief racing and test engineer with Audi Sports), and Fergal O’Brien, associate professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, You can check out video of the speakers at Atlantic Corridor STEM YouTube Link.
Here are some of the interesting things that I will be following up next year in my own primary school:
FIRST LEGO League is a global robotics competition that looks to inspire kids to take up STEM careers. Robotics Ireland runs the Irish version and pupils aged 9-16 years of age take part. Read more aboutabout the Irish FIRST Lego League 2012 competition at Silicon Republic or watch a report at Irish FIRST Lego League 2012 Video Report. A new theme is announced every September so get in contact with Robotics Ireland now for the next school year!
Super Grover 2.0 – Sesame Street. Sesame street have embraced the concept of STEM and have created a new super hero that teaches pre-school children all about mathematics and science in a fun and engaging way. During her speech Carol Lynn Parente also informed the conference that STEAM was now the new buzz word. She told us that the A stood for Arts and that teaching the STEM subjects through the Arts subjects was importance for making the STEM subjects fun for kids.
Also, as I was chatting at the conference I found out about two great sites that I now frequent:
iLearn Technology: This is great educational blog that has some amazing posts and is well worth following
Active Learning integrating ICT in literacy and numeracy: This is great site developed by the PDST (Professional Development Service for Teachers) that shows how ICT can be used effectively in the classroom to support numeracy and literacy.