Teachers gather to share science and maths ideas

More than 20 teachers from primary and secondary schools across the Pilbara gathered last Friday night for the first STEM Pilbara teach meet.

The meet saw teachers from Wickham, Baynton West and Tambrey primary schools, and Pannawonica and Karratha Senior High School present and share ideas about engaging students in science, technology, engineering and maths lessons and activities.

Karratha Senior High School science and maths teacher Dhiv Sri said the meeting aimed to bridge the gap between primary and secondary school.

“Let’s say I’m a teacher at a certain school and I see you present and I go ‘I like that idea’ and I might use it in my classroom and vice versa,” he said.

“Department of Education is really pushing for STEM … in 2018 there is going to be compulsory STEM lessons and STEM classes, so it’s an opportunity for teachers to really gear up and be prepared for that.”

The meeting also aimed to bring together the Pilbara STEM network that formed in November last year.

“Pannawonica started the STEM program and then we decided to get a group of members from each school and meet at certain times to discuss points and we thought we’d have our first teach meet,” Mr Sri said.

“We plan to have it every year and ideally it’s just to help teachers get some ideas.”