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2019 (3)
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Does tech teaching make your network vulnerable?
Technology teaching places new demands on networks in both capacity and security; many of the materials used in STEAM education, programmable microcontroller kits for one, are designed to be open and are therefore vulnerable to maliciousness.
   So, with huge numbers of different devices connecting to networks, allowing them to join smoothly and to be removed smoothly if anything untoward is happening is paramount. Read more

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Microchip breakthrough brings STEM technology into primary schools
Developed in South Australia by eLabtronics, the runlinc platform is being taught to children as young as eight years old and allows simple but powerful investigations to be made.
   eLabtronics CEO Peng Choo said the new development platform was being rolled out as fast as possible “from the ground up” by teaching young people how to use it.
   Runlinc’s development system software and corresponding web page are already on the Wi-Fi chip, simplifying programming. Read more

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STEAM in the family
One of the problems we have in education at the moment is that the curriculum in some areas is developing so rapidly that parents and the wider community have trouble keeping up. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the STEM subjects area. Read more

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New maths trial boosts evidence on children’s numeracy
Research on the QuickSmart Numeracy program says it is delivering a month’s worth of impact on maths achievement when compared with students doing regular maths classes alone.
   QuickSmart is designed to help students become ‘automatic’ in basic maths skills and then apply them is more advanced maths tasks. Students attend 90 QuickSmart sessions in 30 weeks in addition to their regular maths classes.
Read more

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Why I believe that the future of education is virtual
“Oh, that’s what it looks like!” the student exclaims. A Year 12 biology student is in my office at lunchtime – or at least, that’s what it looks like on the surface. In her world, she’s actually inside a cell, approaching the nucleus. Things that she has only seen in diagrams are given scale and form – and suddenly it all clicks.
Read more

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Visible female STEAM role models plan needed
You can’t be what you can’t see and that applies for STEAM career pathways for women, but there needs to be a strategy set in place if strong female STEAM role models are to be made available to young ladies.
   Public representation of STEAM still looks quite male so visibility is key, everywhere; women role models need to be at conferences, in leadership positions, on boards, on conference panels and in the media.
Read more

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Mojobot – World's first tangible coding robot and board game
Mojobot exists at the confluence of board games, coding and robotics, sweet.
   The idea is tangible coding, with Mojobot you learn to code through playing and challenging each other in the Mojobot Missions board game, a turn-based multiplayer game where players compete to undertake Missions and earn star points.
   Mojobot is equipped with lights, sounds, sensors, motion and actions and can even pick up tokens, carry and deliver them around. Read more

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Microsoft AI for Good Challenge now accepting submissions from teachers and students
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and engaging with it ethically and positively should be front of mind.
   Microsoft Australia and professional learning organisation, Education Changemakers, are calling on teachers and high school students to enter a new national competition – the AI for Good Challenge – to learn about AI by developing ideas for AI solutions to help tackle real world social challenges. Read more