YOUR COMMUNITY
WORDS Heather Kennett
STUDENTS’ BRIGHT IDEA
SCORES AWARD Salisbury North R-7 Primary School is celebrating the achievements of a team of students who won first prize in a state-wide STEM competition.
At the workshop, the students decided to create a Smart Light Dimmer for their school’s greenhouse, by programming the light to turn on automatically when dark, to optimise the growth of its plants. It allows the school’s plants to receive more light and help growth over time. At the end of the workshop, the students presented their invention before a panel of three STEM Specialist judges from around Australia. They named the Salisbury North R-7 students as joint winners on the day. The students, Alan, Mathew, Caiden, Talieya, Malchante, Nicole, Liam and Izaiah, were then invited to present their project at the state-wide competition at the Royal Adelaide Show.
The team, comprised of students from Years 5, 6 and 7, came first in the STEMSEL TEAM SMART FARM category, as part of the Aboriginal Youth Inventors Program held last September. The group first attended a workshop at Lake Windermere B-7 School, where they
learnt about programming STEMSEL (Science Technology Engineering Maths Social Enterprise Learning) kits. STEMSEL is designed to be a fun, hands-on problem-solving experience, relevant to the students learning in schools.
20 | AUTUMN 2020 | SALISBURY AWARE | www.salisbury.sa.gov.au
It involved a four-minute presentation to a panel of judges focusing on how their invention worked and the social enterprise benefits, with the team awarded first prize in its category. The winning project is now on display in the school’s Nunga room for families to visit and celebrate the students’ hard work.
