Last week, teachers from all over Australia came together at the first-ever Digital Curriculum Technologies Summit to discuss the best ways to bring computer science and computational thinking into Australian classrooms. Attendees at the summit were lucky enough to learn from some of the Aussie teachers who are leading the way in making computer science fun, approachable, and relevant to their daily lives.
Today we want to recognise five STEM and computer science educators who are making an outstanding contribution to teaching in Australia. Each of them will receive LEGO Education EV3 Robotic kits and a special school visit early next year from a team of Google engineers who will talk to their classrooms about cool careers in technology.
Linda McIver, John Monash Science School
Linda’s class has partnered with Polperro Dolphin Swims to digitise eight years' worth of data about the dolphins in Port Phillip Bay that has just been sitting on a shelf. It's real computational science that will make a difference to the world.
Jenny Gallagher, Milton State School
Jenny uses her engineering background to integrate ‘bee bots’ and other unique educational tools into her lesson plans to help introduce her students to computational thinking before they even realise it.
Graeme Breen, Mountain Creek Secondary School
Graeme has spent his career making sure that the stereotype of technology being a 'boys subject' does not take hold. He encourages students to investigate a range of technologies and devices in an environment that is challenging but fun, and equally available to both genders and all ages.
Karin Pfister, Northern Territories Department of Education
Karin works to help teachers keep up with changes in technology and to integrate them into their curriculum before they become obsolete again.
Rob Torok, Claremont College
Rob has been using LEGO robotics to teach his students since 2001. He has also mentored teams in RoboCup Junior and the FIRST Robotics Competition, and teaches an online robotics class called SmartBots.
Congratulations to these five teachers - we can’t wait to meet the brilliant young minds graduating from your classrooms - maybe when they apply for a job at Google one day?
You can learn more about how you can build computer science and computational thinking into your curriculum, and inspire the next generation of innovators here.