Nine Catholic secondary schools are currently participating in the CESA STEM Extended Reality Challenge for 2020. The challenge asks students to use a design thinking process to identify problems in their community and develop solutions using extended reality technologies. The students are supported through the challenge by Dr Marissa Bond from Lumination. Students visit the STEM Innovation Lab at Lumination to have an immersion experience in extended reality technologies and begin ideating and prototyping their solutions using CoSpaces software.
This is a professional learning opportunity that is part of the Catholic Education SA STEM Learning Initiative and funded through the Non Government Reform Support Workplan.
The CESA STEM Learning Initiative signifies our understanding and response to the identified key role that STEM education can play in students’ initial and ongoing learning engagement. It supports an innovative, system-wide approach to STEM teaching and learning with an emphasis on animating our vision and identity as defined by our Living Learning Leading Framework.
In response to COVID-19, the Learning and Technologies Team, in partnership with Lumination, has offered a remote delivery option for schools participating in the CESA XR Challenge. The offer was put forward while most students were still engaged in learning from home and involved providing students with individual Cardboard VR headsets.
Watch Year 7 students from St Paul's College who are exploring ways to solve the problems at Dry Creek, using virtual and augmented reality as part of this challenge. During their visit to the STEM Innovation Lab, they were able to become inspired and expand their knowledge of virtual content creation.
As more Catholic parish primary schools prepare to drop their school fees in 2021, one family is already reaping the benefits.
