Bye Bye STEM and hello STEAM as Sydney's PowerHouse Museum launches two amazing new spaces

NSW Minister for Industry Anthony Roberts put the "A" factor into Australia's future in science, technology, engineering and mathematical literacy rates yesterday when he announced it was bye bye STEM and hello STEAM at the launch of the PowerHouse Museum's brand new Centre for STEAM.

The "A" is for ART and reflects the engagement dynamic that will be vital for Australia to redress and lift our declining performance and broaden the appeal for students to follow these paths which are the foundation of many careers of the future. And we have some work to do with the last major international benchmark study (PISA) showing that between 2003 and 2012, Australian 15-year-olds' mathematical literacy fell in absolute and relative terms while in another international maths survey (TIMSS), Australian students in year 4 in 2011 were outperformed by counterparts in England and the United States, countries we were beating not many years ago.

The PISA examination is held triennially and in 2012 tested more than 510,000 students in 65 countries and economies on maths, reading and science. The exams were held again last year and results come out next Tuesday 6th December and it will be interesting to see how Australia fares this time around.

In the first year of its operation, the Powerhouse Museum's Centre for STEAM will launch the Full STEAM Ahead program designed to give over 1000 under-represented Year 8 students across Australia the STEAM skills they need to create change in the world. Digital media workshops and an annual program of video conferences will give schools across the country access to leaders across the STEAM disciplines.

I really liked what MAAS Director, Dolla Merrillees had to say when she commented yesterday, “today’s classroom is not contained within four walls. It is a place of learning with few boundaries and infinite possibilities. MAAS is Australia’s only museum of applied arts and science and is uniquely positioned to empower students with the skills needed to excel in the 21st Century and the STEAM Centre aims to address this widening skills gap by providing learning opportunities that are both useful and engaging.”

Now cutting to the fun part, what I loved most about the new STEAM centre is the two brilliant spaces of "The Lab" and "Experimentations" that I was lucky enough to have a sneak preview of yesterday - they are just amazing!!!

"The Lab" is a hands on digital learning space, a place where you can play, make, imagine and create large-scale gaming experiences, create music or a program of events, attend digital media workshops and learn to code. This is beautifully complemented by the interactive science gallery downstairs "Experimentations." This is exhibition downstairs that shows that took me back to my childhood when you have all sorts of crazy questions like how does a battery work or what makes lightening. It's a great space that explains how scientific and technological breakthroughs have answered these questions and in the process changed many of our ideas about everyday phenomena.

They have a brilliant holiday program for kids of all ages which is designed to make bring kids together of all ages and backgrounds and excite their appetite for discovery and fun. You can checkout the details at https://maas.museum/whats-on/#/feature/school-holidays/type/workshop

#Powerhouse #itrocks #thelab #experimentations