Greater Shepperton STEM Camp

Written by Bridget O’Leary

I was fortunate enough to go to Shepperton with our Tech School Team for four days for a STEM camp for the Greater Shepperton College. Apart from the delicious Indian food available in Shepperton, the energy from the students was a buzz. Students were super interested in our technology and programs as we presented the Wind Turbine new technology and used the digital program 3D Energy to design an energy efficient sustainable house and design solution for an eco-friendly village.

The year 7 and 8s were innovative with ideas ranging from the idea ‘Robo Party’, which involved robots that create art in an art gallery and party featuring disco lights, techno music and a tiny house/ art installation, an underground garage and 2 story houses, and a property that grew sustainable veggies and fruit for food that is self-sustainable for a family of seven on a farm that uses the surrounding lake for water energy.

We showcased our 3D chocolate printing machine to the cooking class and discussed ways that the future cooking world could use machines to aid the service industry. This included of course, tasting salted caramel dolphin and mashed potato snowflakes.

The year 9 and 10s were experts in the competition for the best aerodynamics in wind turbines with one team generating up to 10 volts of energy through their design with only three blades. We discovered that angles are important for the blades as the wind pushes the blades more efficiently and together, we tested and explored robots including Thymio, Robocar, and talked about drone usage in industry. Industry also visited us in our learning process and students asked many questions about their warehouses and their company innovations. We also had visiting politicians!

Overall, the experience was heart-warming as we all discovered how to collaborate on our design solutions using the Human Design Process, which is so effective in steps that are relevant to both university and career experiences needed that incorporate soft skills such as empathy, defining problems, problem-solving, ideation, prototyping and pitching ideas to a targeted audience. We hope that we will visit this beautiful campus soon.