fROm ThE pRESIDENT

The AI phenomenon has swept across the world with the promise of making lives easier, creating art, automating complex processes, removing bias, increasing labour productivity and taking on mundane activities such as writing student reports! Sounds terrific but not as great as we think according to our keynote speaker at CONSTAWA in April, Julia Powles who is the Director of The University of Western Australia’s Minderoo Tech & Policy Lab and Associate Professor of Law and Technology at UWA Law School. Julia spoke about the incredibly high costs involved with the creation of the machines that perform these feats, including the enormous volume of water required to keep them cool and functional. She pointed out that AI is emotionless and has no human experience to draw upon when answering questions, creating prose and dealing with actual humans. The AI systems that we are now relying on for so many functions in society have no understanding of ethics and are also not bound by international laws. This is extremely concerning, but the horse has well and truly bolted, as the creators of this technology admit themselves. The loss of human jobs must also be concerning to our society. The problem that teachers are encountering re the possibility of students cheating on essay and report writing is possibly the least of our worries.

On a lighter note, CONSTAWA was held in the April school holidays, and was an enormous success, with exceptional work by Mady Colquhoun and the rest of the CONSTAWA Working Group of Graham Johnson, Sue Doncon, Geoff Quinton and Lance Taylor. Mady once again led her team with true professionalism, with everything well organised and occurring seamlessly on the day with the support of John Clarke and Pamela Getalado. There was an increase of at least 50 delegates compared with 2022, a great achievement that resulted in great opportunities for networking, and there was a tangible “buzz” around the venue on the day.

I would like to thank all the volunteers for their assistance with the preparation months, weeks and on the day before, and for their attendance and help on the day. A special thanks to Lance for providing such a suitable venue, with exceptional assistance from the IT staff there, as well as organising all the signs, rooming, areas for the trades, and taking photos on the day. We were again catered for by the Certificate II Hospitality students who provided a perfect array of very tasty food enjoyed by all. The workshops were very well received and the keynote from Dr Julia Powles was truly eyeopening as I have already mentioned. Professor Lyn Beazley joined us and presented the Jeff Cahill Award to Kieran Broadbent from John Bosco College. The STAWA Early Career Primary Science Scholarship was awarded to Ashleigh Tomastig from Mount Lockyer Primary School.

Science Talent Search will continue to be a key highlight this year, with Anne Poustie volunteering to take over the role of overseeing this major STAWA event. STAWA is very appreciative of the enormous amount of time, effort and expertise that was contributed by Julie Weber for many years to make this such an important event on the STAWA calendar. Now that COVID does not threaten to present constraints we hope that many more students will get involved and that the awards can be well attended later this year. I encourage all teachers to consider getting their students involved in STS as this is a great opportunity for students of all ages to participate in long term projects, investigations and even photography and film making.

With many changes to senior school curriculum on the horizon, STAWA is working hard to update and develop new resources for teachers and students that match the new syllabi. This has been and continues to be an immense task, mostly completed by volunteers. The new General Human Biology resources were showcased at CONSTAWA and were very well received. Once we have an exact date for the changeover, teachers will be informed of their availability. Chemistry will follow soon, and work on Physics will commence later this year. The Psychology committee continue to work to provide resources for the new curriculum and I look forward to the 2024 Year 12 course being presented to Psychology teachers in September at the Psychology Convention. This will be an opportunity to develop knowledge and networks to assist in the teaching of this very different course.

CONASTA 70 takes place in Adelaide in July. This is another important science education event, enabling professional networking with like-minded educators and those that support us with resources such as texts and scientific equipment. STAWA will be hosting CONASTA in 2025, and work is continuing to organise this event.

With the support of STAWA, I am currently organising a STEM event for girls from Years 5-9 in the Southwest, with the venue being in Bunbury. The purpose is to enable rural students to participate in a local event that will expose them to the many STEM careers available to them by introducing them to female science professionals. They will engage in workshops provided by various institutions and stakeholders in science education. STAWA is keen to encourage girls to participate in STEM related subjects and to pursue their passion into the future. Australia needs as many people involved in STEM to ensure our sustainable and economic future.

The current teacher shortage is affecting us all and many educators are considering their careers. In May the Federal Government provided an online survey for teachers, parents and students to provide feedback about the things we believe to be important for consideration. ASTA is working hard to inform the ministers of the issues being experienced by teachers, especially those who teach STEM subjects, and possible strategies to retain teachers. The aim is to improve education outcomes and support teachers.

I hope that, despite all of the issues we face, we maintain our passion for science education and continue to instil that passion into our students.

Annabel Kanakis