FUTURE LEARNING MAGAZINE
JULY 2021
National Science Week
OzHarvest Bribie Island SHS
Space Seeds and Vegepod
Smart Gardens
Food For Future Thinking Teachers - Brought to you by STEM Punks®
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Editor’s Note
Food glorious food! We can’t live without it, but how is our food production changing? How are advancements in technology helping us to produce, process and supply the needs of our population? So many new technologies are enabling farming and agriculture to streamline systems, process food faster, and save time and money getting food from farm to table. The recent 400M summit in Toowoomba, Australia highlighted some cutting-edge technologies at the forefront of future farming. Drones in agriculture are providing one solution, robotic farms another, and even Artificial Intelligence plays a role in detecting defects in food processing. Connected farms, smart farms and automated food production are bringing efficiencies and cost savings to the food we consume. But what about the food we waste? OzHarvest share their solution to the problem. We also hear learn about Vegepod, an innovation that makes growing your own food in any space both easy and enjoyable. We’ve planted radish seeds that have spent 6 months aboard the International Space Station – will this make them grow differently to nonspace exposed radish seeds? Bribie Island SHS learnt all about food tech recently. See their report on page 4. Our Smart Garden kits continue to make learning about connected gardens fun, right around the world from Australia to Hawaii and now Ghana. Our partner school there has a special emphasis on literacy for girls, so see what their Smart Gardens are teaching the girls about connectivity and gardening. Our friends at Questacon get us excited for National Science Week 2021. Find out how your school can get involved on page 13. Our next issue is all about the Environment, so please let us know if you have any STEM related stories in your community. Fiona Holmstrom Editor & Publisher BFA (CW) MWEP fiona@stempunks.com.au
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In this issue
03 STEM in agriculture 04 Food tech explorations 06 Smart Gardens 08 Space Seeds and Vegepod 10 Food wastage & OzHarvest 13 National Science Week Contributors Writing by Julie Scott at Julie Scott Writing Services Graphic designer Leticia Packer at Arara digital creative For advertising enquiries, contact hello@stempunks.com.au Have a STEM related story for Future Learning magazine? fiona@stempunks.com.au
The importance of STEM skills in industries like agriculture by Fiona Holmstrom STEM Punks
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I was honoured this month to be the recipient of the Queensland Women in STEM Prize. As part of my acceptance speech, I touched on the jobs of the future and why STEM is more important now than ever: 85% of the jobs that will exist in the year 2030 haven’t been invented yet*. Many of those jobs will require skills such as data science, robotics, analytics, Machine Learning, and AI. These skills will be required in our biggest industries here in Australia, in particular agriculture, as well as resources, construction, defence, space, and even tourism. STEM is critical to Australia because it fosters a whole new generation of innovators and makes sure that talent is preserved and stays here in the country. STEM enables new businesses to grow the national economy. Studies have shown that by educating girls, in particular, in lower socio-economic demographics, their families and their communities also benefit, and prosper. This has a flow-on effect of boosting the economies of smaller towns around Australia. When these girls finish school and start their own companies, they in turn will be helping to grow the nation’s economy by being part of the business ecosystem. If we do not invest in these communities, however, the ripple effect is alarming – with impacts on wellbeing and our economy. STEM is more than a subject. It’s a mindset, and in the 4th Industrial revolution, human skills we teach at STEM Punks will be just as important as qualifications in the jobs of the future: Connection. Communication. Collaboration. Creativity. Empathy. Problem Solving. The skills we enable children with equips them with knowledge where they can recognise the global impact on decisions and solutions. It allows for a problem-solving process where diversity, intersectionality, culture, and equal opportunity are key drivers for value creation. People with skills to Problem solve and think critically will always be in demand. To enable positive change is to create widespread awareness and to create relatable pathways for children to pursue in STEM. This is at the heart of what STEM Punks delivers and will provide a long-term and sustainable platform to build skills & enable increased STEM leadership in government, research, industry, and businesses right here in Queensland. *Source: Institute for the Future & Dell Technologies
Professor Hugh Possingham QLD Chief Scientist
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Bribie Island SHS
School Spotlight
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Food tech explorations
Food is obviously a huge part of our lives, and students at Bribie Island State High School recently got to spend a day exploring the role that STEM and particularly how technology is changing food production in the digital era. BISHS set aside a day for their year 7 students to spend with STEM Punks on this topic. Students were guided through three phases. First was exploring and researching, which saw students hear from the STEM Punks supported Smart Garden project at the HI-SEAS Moon and Mars Analog Research base in Hawaii. They learnt about Food tech in Queensland and on the International Space Station, and tested CO2 and temperature sensors. Students then reported back to the whole class on what they learned. The second phase involved students coding Micro:bit Smart Garden moisture sensors before testing these at sites around the school and then comparing and contrasting their data. The third phase saw students design and present their own vertical garden designs using Minecraft software. Together these three phases saw students work through all stages of the Design Thinking process - from research to exploring Food tech in practical ways to brainstorming, prototyping, evaluating and iterating on their own solution. Well done to all the students for embracing such a design-led approach and showing just how Food tech can be integrated into the curriculum.
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Smart Gardens LING Ghana by Abdul-Razak Issah Founder and Director of LING
Literacy In Northern Ghana (LING) is a registered not-forprofit organisation with a focus on literacy through the use of technology in education. The organisation focuses its work in the Northern Regions of Ghana (where poverty is endemic) to improve life-long learning of children (both gender and socially excluded in society) in school to secure them a better future. The adapted approach is aimed at providing knowledge and learning skills that will enable girls to become responsible and productive members of society. The use of technology applications in education is lagging both at the formative and advanced levels in Northern Ghana. LING in its idealisation identified the use of technology in its literacy interventions for school children to drive quality of learning. In the process of partnership building and networking, LING was attracted by the STEM Literacy application based on its suitability for adoption for practical learning at all levels of education in our situation. As part of LINGs efforts on achieving positive impacts on school children and their families, field tests with the use of STEM Punks’ Smart Garden sensors were taken with Kpanvo Presby School kids in Kpanvo, a deprived farming community in the Tamale Local Authority area in the Northern Region of Ghana. The parents of the school kids who participated in the test session are subsistent farmers (only farm to feed their families) who chose to use the Smart Garden to recount results of field test to their parents for adoption of good agriculture
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Girls coding class brings learning to the field in testing soil water, temperature, moisture , acidity with the Smart Garden sensor on the field to a project. With proper structure, girls can be the future future to growth.
This technology enables the kids to be instrumental in transitioning their parents out of poverty
practices to improve yields for household food-safety net, improve household economy, and also an appreciation for scientific approaches to change in behaviors. The kids engaged in water, humidity, temperature, and acidity level testing of soil samples from their parents’ farmlands to determine suitability for growth of plants. Both samples were planted with seeds for observation over a 15 day period for proper growth.
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This Smart Garden technology created by STEM Punks is introducing higher learning skills training that enables the kids to be instrumental in transitioning their parents out of poverty.
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STEM Punks, Space Seeds and Vegepod pikisuperstar
STEM Punks has started a space-age food growing project that shows off how great Vegepod is and links to the theme of National Science Week 2021. Vegepod is a unique Shark Tank winning food growing solution that uses self-watering and a mobile, container design to make gardening easy. In only an hour our STEM Punks team were able to get the Vegepod itself unpacked and assembled ready for soil and planting. This includes adding the protective cover and self-watering system. Now the Vegepod itself is ready, STEM Punks is set to use it for a very special project to help us celebrate National Science week’s theme of Food: Different by Design. The International Space Station (ISS) has a long history of developing future-proof ways to grow food in contained ways, and this project will build on those experiments in our own backyard and add to the Space-linked programs STEM Punks has already pioneered. Specifically, thanks to our partnership with Spacenation.org, we’re about to start growing some 8
very special Cherry Radish seeds. These seeds were launched on a United Launch Alliance rocket and spent six months in space aboard the ISS. While in space they were exposed to micro-gravity and the increased radiation of space - and now thanks to Vegepod, we will grow them alongside normal radish seeds in an experiment to compare growth rates as well as do a taste test with students at the end. Look out for the results in a future story.
Agriculture, Sustainability, Food Tech & Science The Aussie born Vegepod is a self-contained, self-watering, raised garden bed. It is a multipurpose learning tool that is crucial for education organisations looking to incorporate sustainability, agriculture, and STEM teachings. One of our programs, Sprout High is specifically designed to meet all curricular requirements for the new year seven and eight mandatory agriculture science component (as designed by the head of the NSW Association of Agriculture Teachers). The Vegepod is not only an accessible no-dig garden (you can put it anywhere) but it is also an extremely low-maintenance, hands-on garden experience for students. The Vegepod is available in three sizes, and varying stands.
visit www.vegepod.com.au call 1800 428 431 enquire: info@vegepod.com.au
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Food wastage & OzHarvest OzHarvest was founded by Ronni Kahn in 2004 and has quickly grown to become Australia’s leading food rescue organisation. STEM Punks spoke with Oz Harvest’s NSW Education Coordinator Rachel, about its mission and the impact that food wastage has on climate change. Rachel said, “we go out and collect food that would otherwise be wasted and provide it within 24 hours to people who need it. We’re trying to prevent food from going into the bin and we’re also trying to make sure that everyone in our country has access to nourishing, healthy food, when they need it.” According to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment (DAWE), food waste contributes eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This occurs because rotting food produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. If food waste was a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter behind the USA and China. Each year, Australians waste around 7.3 million tonnes of food which is estimated to cost about $20 billion. Rachel explained, “food has a huge impact on climate change. When we waste food, we don’t just waste the food itself, we actually waste everything. We waste the water that went into producing the food, we waste the land that the food was grown on, we waste the time, effort, money and all the resources that went into growing that food.’ Rachel suggested, “if there’s food in your fridge and you’re hungry, try looking at what’s about to go off. We need to look at food a little bit differently and not go, what do I want to eat now? Rather, what needs to be eaten and what can I do with it to make it into what I want.” Rachel continued, “it’s actually fantastic to know that addressing food waste and trying to stop food waste in your home is the most powerful thing that you as an individual can do to help stop climate change and take action on climate.” OZHarvest has an education program for schools that teaches children about less waste, eating healthy food and how to become future change makers. For more information about FEAST and their programs for National Science Week, see: https://education.ozharvest.org/ 10
www.kinetikits.com.au At KinetiKits we are driven to create engaging, challenging, locally designed and environmentally friendly educational kits that evolve with local needs. We prototype and produce educational kits which inspire children to think creatively, critically and sustainably. KinetiKits offers an educational range of kits that are linked with science, technology, engineering, arts and maths areas of the Australian curriculum. Each kit comes with concise instructions that are easy to follow, however there is also space for variation and creativity. They support STEM style learning programs or make perfect, quality gifts. In addition, they are fun to build and encourage higher order thinking and problem solving skills. KinetiKits opens learning pathways.
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Future food, stargazing, and donut-flinging robots: it’s National Science Week National Science Week 2021 is coming up from 14 to 22 August. First held in 1997, National Science Week is now one of Australia’s largest festivals. Hundreds of events, both virtual and physical, are held around the country, from a shark dissection in Darwin to virtual reality tours of the Universe. Plus, many schools and workplaces are holding ‘Brain Break’ science-themed morning tea zoom catchups. The importance of science is in the spotlight. The last year has shown that science is saving lives from post-disaster mental health research to the development, production and rollout of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. The 2021 schools theme is Food: Different by Design, exploring where food comes from—now and in the future. Teachers and their students will learn about sustainable agriculture, biosecurity, food technology and laboratory-developed foods. The theme marks the UN International Year of Fruits and Vegetables and the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. It’s a delicious opportunity for children to find out where their food comes from, the fascinating science of food flavour and colour, the chemistry of cooking, and explore future foods, from fake meat to edible insects. There are a number of ways schools can get involved. Download the Food: Different by Design teaching resource book The Food: Different by Design teaching resource book covers a broad range of areas in food production and sustainable agriculture, enabling students to explore topics such as biosecurity, food technology and laboratory-developed foods. Scientific development is at the core to the theme, with hands-on projects for students from Foundation to Year 10 to explore. There’s also a matching student journal and an Indigenous perspectives teaching resource book. All were developed by the Australian Science Teachers Association and can be downloaded at www.scienceweek.net.au/schools/. Do a DIY Science activity in the classroom There’s a suite of DIY Science sheets with activities people can try at home or school, including exploring the colours in food plants, finding the mathematics in nature, and making art with minerals. They’re online at www.scienceweek. net.au/diy-science/ Go on a real or virtual excursion to a registered National Science Week event There are hundreds of in-person and online events and activities for the general public listed on the National Science Week website, such as the Adelaide competition for schools and community groups to make donut-flinging robots, the SciVR astronomy online and virtual reality tour of the Universe, and the ABC’s ‘Hoot Detective’, inviting people to lend their ears and identify the owl calls in audio clips recorded in their habitat. For more information, and to find events in your local area, visit www. scienceweek.net.au. JULY 2021
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different
FOOD
by design
14–22 August 2021
www.scienceweek.net.au
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For Future Thinking Teachers - Brought to you by STEM Punks®