The school theme for National Science Week in 2023 was Innovation: Powering Future Industries. The theme incorporates the advancement in technology in all industries, especially using artificial intelligence (AI).
To help teachers at Matthew Flinders Anglican College curate an impactful learning experience for their Year 8 students in line with the National Science Week theme, the BOP team designed and delivered six industry-aligned challenge packs for students to work on.
With a focus on project-based learning and inquiry-based learning, each challenge pack was designed around a core theme experienced by industry in Australia. The challenge packs each came with the following elements:
Project Brief: A high-level overview of the project students are about to embark on and why it's of interest to the industry.
User Personas: Three users that students need to consider while designing their final solution.
Pitching Brief: An overview of what students are required to put in their final 3-5 minute pitch, as well as five key judging criteria for them to consider.
Challenges: 1-2 challenges that students will need to complete as part of their project, each with a page of explanation, key information on what students need to produce, and links to videos and blog posts for background understanding.
These challenge packs were delivered to Matthew Flinders Anglican College staff who then used these as stimulus material for students to engage in over the course of six lessons leading up to a final ideas showcase during National Science Week.
The challenge packs delivered to Year 8 students at Matthew Flinders Anglican College include:
- The Future Of Retail: Students will be reimaging one of their favourite brands as they redesign the in store and online experience, as well as consider social impact initiatives that this brand could launch.
- Sustainable Aviation: Students will be looking at how they can make commercial flying more sustainable as they analyse and redesign the passenger experience from when they arrive at one airport to when they leave from the other.
- The Future Of Transport: Students will be exploring how the way we move is changing as they redesign transport networks around their community with a focus on mass transit systems, alternative forms of transport, and environmentally friendly transport options.
- Mental Health Hackathon: Students will be designing mental health support solutions that are created by young people for young people as they look at in school programs, digital solutions, and community spaces to support young people with their mental health.
- The Future Of Sport: Students will be redesigning a sports stadium of the future as they think about how they can use sustainability and technology to enhance the spectator experience and reduce the environmental impacts of sports.
- Ethical Social Media: Students will be challenged to design a responsible and ethical social media platform as they ask the question, just because we can, does it mean we should?
To find out more about these resources and how you can purchase challenge packs for your students, head to: www.bopindustries.com/units-of-work