The Makers Empire team recently travelled to Chinchilla in regional South West Queensland for the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Primary Schools Project showcase. This project was delivered by Makers Empire in partnership with the Queensland Government’s Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water and the Chinchilla Community Commerce & Industry Inc.
This project aligns with Queensland’s 10-year Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap and is designed to help support the rapidly growing advanced manufacturing industry in the region. Supporting the development of the local workforce is important for the state’s future manufacturing capacity so this project engages young students and their teachers in STEM learning with a manufacturing focus and helps them understand what skills are required and the exciting career opportunities in their region.
Following professional development and training days for teachers and two terms of students working through a program of work with Makers Empire, participating schools attended the showcase day at St Joseph’s School in Chinchilla to share their learning and the manufacturing-themed problems they had tried to solve using Design Thinking and 3D printing. The schools were Chinchilla State School, St Joseph’s School Chinchilla, Chinchilla Christian College, Brigalow State School, Condamine State School, Jandowae State School, Kogan State School and Tara Shire State College.
On the day, everyone was welcomed by St Joseph’s Assistant Principal, Sam Jaegar. Students, teachers and guests then heard speeches from Helen Bates from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, Renitta Flynn from Dalby South State School and Peter Doherty, a STEM award winner alumni.
Afterwards, it was time for the student showcase. Students took turns hosting their stands and sharing their projects with stand visitors, and visiting other school’s stands and learning about their projects. Students had to ask a helpful question or provide constructive feedback at each stand. Students also voted for their favourite project for the Peer Award.Â
A panel of expert judges from the education and manufacturing industries also visited each stand and assessed the projects for the overall prize.
After the voting had concluded, it was time to discover who the winners were: Brigalow State School won the student-voted Peer Award and Kogan State School won the Industry Award as assessed by the expert judges. Congratulations!!
Thank you to the Queensland Government’s Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water and the Chinchilla Community Commerce & Industry Inc for partnering with us on this project. Special thanks to Robyn Haig who was instrumental in realising the project while she was at the Chinchilla Community Commerce & Industry Inc. Thank you also to our industry judges and invited guests and to Principal Melissa Hobson and Assistant Principal Sam Jaegar for hosting the showcase at their school.
