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Budding entrepreneurs dream big, beyond their backyard

Learning for Life staff

14 July 2023

We’d love you to meet Josh who organised Young ICT Explorers at his school. This high school teacher expected a lot from his Year 8 competition team. They more than delivered!

Q. Tell us about your competition team?
A. I had this great Year 8 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) class. I got them to submit a project for the competition. In the classroom, they came up with an idea and planned how we were going to do it. We worked through the STEM process. I was teaching them how to define the problem, identify their constraints… things like that. Then the pandemic hit!

Q. What was their idea?
A. Usually when you return a book to a library, the librarian must put it away. Their idea was to simplify this. Their prototype involved fitting each book with a little tracking tag. Then, when you walk into the library with your book to return it, the tag identifies where it should go.

Q. You mentioned a lockdown soon after you started?
A. Yes. It was stressful for the kids: they had to do the bulk of the work at home. They took their STEM skills and applied them to working together online. They did really well.

Q. Why do students need STEM opportunities?
A. Our society is moving away from low-skilled jobs. Nowadays, students need technology skills. These students also need to know how to work as a team, manage their time, plan and prototype. These are skills they can take into any profession.

Q. What do you love most about the program?
A. The program teaches my students things they don’t usually learn at school. This includes entrepreneurial skills like how to design a product and market it. These are important skills!

Q. How did your students go in the end?
A. Young ICT Explorers expanded my Year 8 students’ horizons. It let them look out further than their everyday world. They got to see how their little idea could become an entrepreneurial opportunity. It planted a seed. They also came third in NSW – they were very happy with that!

Read more student and family stories in our Spring 2023 edition of Real People, Real Stories.

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