Leongatha Secondary College, Korumburra Secondary College and MacKillop Catholic Regional College STEM Sisters participants have participated in the first Regional BrainSTEM Challenge. This year is the first time it has gone into rural areas and the first time that exclusively female teams have been entered. Essentially BrainSTEM involves matching teams of four students with a University or work place based researcher on a 12 week project. Access to mentors means that students receive guidance from researchers who may be working at any one of the Florey Institute, the Murdoch Institute, Peter McCallum, the Doherty Institute and Walter & Eliza Hall
Institute. Thirteen teams from 8 Gippsland high schools participated in the 12 week scientific discovery program. Each team was partnered with a PhD student who mentored the participants throughout the program.
STEM Sisters participants Makaela, Alysha, Esther and Maddie from Korumburra Secondary College undertook research to design a prototype pet collar that can detect UV rays and send an alert the owner’s mobile phone.
Mary MacKillop Catholic Regional College students focused on researching how colour can effect learning. They came across many studies that indicated that the colour green is best suited for learning environments.
STEM Sisters participants Maddie, Isla, Ruby and Jordan from Leongatha Secondary College researched a coding application and how it could be used in the future to help support issues such as mental health.
Well done to all the teams that participated in the challenge.