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The 11th Annual STEM Education Conference

30-31 July 2024 | PARKROYAL Darling Harbour, Sydney

BUY A PASS Register Your Interest

overview

In its 11th consecutive year, the esteemed STEM Education Conference is set to take place on 30th-31st July, 2024, in Sydney. As the leading education platform in Australia, we invite you to join our passionate speakers in sharing insights that will shape the future of STEM education.

In a time of remarkable technological progress and evolving career paths, this conference serves as a guiding light for Australia’s educators, policymakers, and industry leaders. It offers a platform to delve into the most recent strategies, innovations, and partnerships propelling STEM education into the future.

  • Gain valuable insights into how interdisciplinary collaboration enhances students’ readiness for future STEM careers and discover practical methods for incorporating these principles into educational settings.
  • Exploring the latest advancements in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, and their applications across various industries.
  • Fostering critical thinking skills by challenging students to analyse problems, develop hypotheses, and devise solutions using evidence-based reasoning and logic.
  • Encouraging creativity and innovation by providing opportunities for students to explore, experiment, and design solutions to real-world challenges.
  • What STEM in Australia looks like by improving diversity by engaging students in hands-on learning experiences.

Register your interest to be amongst the first to receive event updates and information

Speakers

Dr Cathy Foley

Australia’s Chief Scientist

Lucy Bennett

Doctoral Lecturer in Education, University of Canberra

Adrian Janson

Learning Area Leader – Design & Technology Teacher, Caulfield Grammar School

Dr Meera Varadharajan

Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead, Nexus Program, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia

Jo Mendoza

Director of Science, Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School

Dr John Buchanan

Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney

Teresa Janowski

Founder & CEO, STEM Fast Track

Dr Hazel Abraham

Senior Lecturer and Kaiwhakatere, Auckland University of Technology

Patrick McGing

Principal, Westbourne College

Dr Michael Myers

Founder & Executive Chairman, Re-Engineering Australia Foundation

Adam Quinn

STEM Teacher, Condobolin High School

Matthew Wallace

Head of STEM, Blackfriars Priory School

Owen Stanborough

Head of House and Leader of Learning, Creative Arts and Design Technology, Blackfriars Priory School

Karen Taylor-Brown

Co-Founder and Publisher, Refraction Media

Ben Branford

Director, Trotec

Dr Margaret Moreton

Chair Executive Director - Education and Engagement, Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience

Dr Fiona Yardley

Director Higher Education, NSW Department of Education

Dr Darren Saunders

NSW Deputy Chief Scientist & Engineer and Executive Director, Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer

Dr Emma Calgaro

Senior Strategy Officer, Science & Risk Assessment NSW Reconstruction Authority

Michael Kasumovic

Founder & Director, Arludo

Liam Sloan

Head of Technology & Enterprise, Wilderness School

Mark Mannion

Science Content Coordinator, Stile Education

Maria Vieira

Lecturer – Education Futures Outreach, University of South Australia

Joe Blackwell

Coordinator of TAS and STEM, Officer Commanding PHSACU, Pittwater House

Jamie Buttigieg

CEO, Skill Samurai

Sam Papasidero

Science and Technology Teacher, Marist College Canberra

Georgia Constanti

Academic Leader STEM PK-6, All Saints Grammar School

Heather Catchpole

Educator Programs Regional Manager, Questacon – The National Science & Technology Centre

Corey Tutt OAM

Founder & CEO, DeadlyScience

Shelley Wilson

Educator Programs Regional Leader NSW, Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre

Fiona Donnelly

Deputy Principal, Granville Boys High School

Blythe Cassidy

Senior Digital Learning Leader, Pymble Ladies’ College

Dan Brown

Head of STEM K-6, Pymble Ladies’ College

Agenda

8:50 am

OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair

Teresa Janowski, Founder & CEO, STEM Fast Track

FUTURE OF STEM EDUCATION

9:00 am

KEYNOTE ADDRESS | STEM Career Pathways Report on Barriers to STEM Careers

Dr Cathy Foley, Australia’s Chief Scientist

9:30 am

  • What’s out there for students in STEM – a story built from experience.
  • What perspective does industry have on the importance of STEM education.
  • What does the research say about engagement boys and girls in STEM.
  • How a shift in the role of teachers caused by STEM can re-energise your career.
  • Trait-consciousness … the key for lifelong success.

DIVERSITY IN STEM

10:10 am

  •  What is the role of educators in making STEM more engaging for young girls.
  • How to create environments where girls feel safe and supported to take risks and engage deeply with STEM subjects.
  • Case study: UniSA STEM Girls Academy Outreach program – Providing free, accessible education in STEM programs can remove barriers to entry.

INTEGRATING STEM IN EDUCATION

10:40 am

  • Encouraging interdisciplinary projects to integrate learnings from multiple STEM fields to fosters a deeper understanding of how the disciplines interconnect and apply to real-life situations.
  • Implementing STEM programs at a fundamental level to spark interest in young learners and build a strong foundation.
  • Using online platforms to provide a more interactive and personalised learning experience, making STEM subjects more engaging and accessible.

11:10 am

Morning Tea & Networking Break

11:40 am

  • The MYP (IB Middle Years Program) Design Cycle and how it provides a common framework for STEM
  • Creating a course and pathways to engage and attract students into STEM
  • Engaging and keeping girls in STEM

12:10 pm

  • Exploring the outcomes of a pilot study in STEM education, highlighting key findings
  • Examining the importance of STEM transdisciplinary approaches and community involvement incorporating the Design Thinking framework
  • Actively engage in hands-on STEM challenges, fostering experiential learning and problem-solving skills.

1:00 pm

Lunch & Networking Break

2:00 pm

  • Implementing a multi-faceted approach to STEM education.
  • Gaining a broad range of skills and experiences since we have implemented a real-life problem-solving approach to the curriculum.
  • Experiences in middle school have enabled them to succeed at Year 12 in the SACE course Industry and Entrepreneurial Solutions, designed with an architecture focus.

2:30 pm

  • The Pymble Ladies’ College Mars Exploration Challenge is a STEM unit where students rotate through various projects including programming robotic arms, building rover drivetrains, and simulating Mars habitats in Minecraft
  • After completing these rotations, students apply their skills by preparing job applications for different NASA departments, emphasising collaboration, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary learning
  • From these applications students choose to deep dive into an area that embraces their passions and develops their skills in STEM
  • Four students will share their experiences, highlighting key STEM skills such as curiosity, problem-solving, collaboration, resilience, creativity, communication, and ethical responsibility

3:00 pm

Afternoon Tea & Networking Break

STEM PATHWAYS

3:30 pm

  • Implementing outreach initiatives to increase and foster interest in STEM among underrepresented groups.
  • Establishing programs and partnerships with industries, universities, and community organizations to create clear and accessible STEM career pathways for all students.
  • Ensuring the curriculum aligns with evolving job market demands, equipping students with the skills needed for future STEM careers.
  • Using data and feedback to continuously improve STEM education strategies and policies.

4:00 pm

  • Career changers professionals from STEM backgrounds are in a position to address teacher shortages and STEM-literacy deficits in Australia.
  • They bring career and life experience, ‘beyond school’ perspectives and can make science and mathematics teaching more relevant and engaging.
  • Examining findings from a project to identify strategies to recruit, engage and retain STEM professionals in teaching.
  • A SWIFT approach: Societal/cultural change; Whole-school approaches; Income and financial support; Flexibility; and Targeted approach.

4:30 pm

END OF DAY ONE & CLOSING REMARKS | Networking Drinks

Teresa Janowski, Founder & CEO, STEM Fast Track

8:55 am

OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair

Karen Taylor-Brown, Co-Founder and Publisher, Refraction Media

FORMING PARTNERSHIPS

9:00 am

  • How Questacon is working with educators to build impact around Australia through Engineering is Elementary, STEM Futures and more
  • Fostering partnerships that build STEM learning and make career pathways more visible for students

9:30 am

  • The Program aims to enhance the STEM education and skill development of students in kindergarten through to Year 12.
  • Implementing the program with focus on technologies directly relevant to the management and response of natural disasters.
  • Ensuring that the program effectively ignites students’ curiosity in technological domains and serves as a source of inspiration for the next generation of innovators and technologists.

10:00 am

  • What is Project X
  • Schools’ perspective of the project
  • Importance of students collaborating with industry
  • Lessons learnt so far

10:30 am

Morning Tea & Networking Break

11:00 am

  • Discuss how Stile’s partnership with Lunaria One, a project where students will choose which seeds will be grown on the Moon, aims to get students excited about science while demonstrating its collaborative, multidisciplinary nature.
  • Examine how Stile’s new Plants unit builds data science skills with a focus on real-world applications and citizen science.
  • Unpack the engineering challenges involved in getting seeds from Earth to the Moon, including how to safely transport the seeds and the biological challenges of growing plants on the Moon.

IMPROVING ACCESS TO STEM IN LOW SES AREAS

11:30 am

  • ensuring the program is inclusive to include students from support and autism classes, mainstream and gifted and talented and selective students
  • funding the program on a limited budget and attracting sponsorship extending the program into the community through our primary schools robotics program
  • connecting students to a range of opportunities including industry experience and competing in competitions.

12:00 pm

  • The Mission: Founding DeadlyScience
  • Empowering Minds: Our Programs
  • Make a Difference: Get Involved

12:30 pm

  • Addressing the economic barriers by facing the challenges, resource shortages, and the scarcity of qualified STEM teachers in lower SES schools.
  • Enhancing student engagement through combating negative attitudes and boosting student enthusiasm for STEM through relevant curricula.
  • Designing an innovating curriculum by ensuring that it incorporates project-based learning and real-world problem-solving skills making STEM subjects more relevant and engaging.

1:00 pm

Lunch & Networking Break

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TEACHING STEM

2:00 pm

  • Scientific thinking is a skill that can be applied to any career, yet many students self-select themselves out of science because they feel they don’t have a “science brain”
  • This stems from the fact that the scientific process is comprised of different skill sets that overload student working memory when presented as a whole.
  • In this talk, I will demonstrate how to ‘break down’ science into more intuitive steps that allow students to complete an experiment in 10 minutes.
  • We will play a game with the audience and explore data in real time to demonstrate what I mean – so make sure you bring your phones!

2:30 pm

  • Overview of my learning journey from being allocated subjects out of my teaching expertise and how this has formed my teaching practice.
  • Leveraging project-based learning as a tool to teach any subject and the importance of flexibility in doing this.
  • How this has shaped my current plans for prioritising and implementing a STEM continuum at Lindisfarne.

3:00 pm

  • Developing a cohesive STEM curriculum that integrates seamlessly with existing school programs and meets educational standards can be challenging.
  • STEM programs must keep up with rapid technological advancements, but schools often delay, making it difficult to prepare students for futur
  • Significant need for specific training and continuous professional development for teachers to effectively deliver STEM curriculum.

3:30 pm

END OF CONFERENCE & CLOSING REMARKS | Afternoon Tea

Karen Taylor-Brown, Co-Founder and Publisher, Refraction Media

exhibitors

Partners

Media Partner

Pricing

Packages Price
Package(Two Days)$2795+GST
Packages Price
Package(Two Days)$2295+GST
Packages Price
Package(Two Days)$1295+GST

Sponsorship & Exhibition Opportunities

Form meaningful connections, generate quality leads and build brand awareness at Australia’s premier forum for educators, policy-makers and thought-leaders in STEM. Reach out to us directly today to discuss your business needs and receive tailored advice on how you can participate at the 11th Annual STEM Education Summit 2024.

For more information on sponsoring or exhibiting at this event, please contact:

Andrew Sinkovich
Sponsorship & Exhibition Manager
+61 447 521 217
Andrew.Sinkovich@informa.com.au

Education Blog

The learning program that transformed Granville Boy School’s reputation
Ten years ago, Granville Boys High School in Sydney’s West was known to the public for all the wrong reasons. With low ATARs and a poor learning culture, the school regularly got a bad rap in the media…
Read more >>

What to consider before developing an educational AI tool
Read more >>

Predicting demand for schools – insights from a demographer
Read more >>

The main ingredient for teaching success
Read more >>

The structure of Australian schooling needs to change – Prof. Adrian Piccoli
Read more >>

To read more of education blog pieces, click here

Testimonials

“Overall this was a great event, It allowed educators exposure to others educators innovative practices. Companies offer amazing products but very few (public) schools have the resourcing to foster the high end tech approach. It was great to see a range of other approaches.”
Paul Anderson, NT Schools

“Very well organised and run event with a collection of excellent speakers.”
Roy Anderson, Catholic Education NT

“A very informative professional learning experience, a must for anyone who would like to gain in-depth knowledge and insights into STEM pedagogy.”
Neroli Rose, Ebor Public School

“This event gave me insight into the wide range of resources that are available to support teachers in STEM.”
Anonymous

“This is not a trade show. You are not going to be sold a snake oil solution to STEM in a box. What you will do is engage in learning and networking with people who will inspire you.”
Michael Gowers, St Monica’s College

“Outstanding event with relevant information, Well Done.”
Adrian Rayner, Education Queensland

Event Code of Conduct

This code explains our expectations and rules, which includes general good practice behaviour – because actions can impact others and everyone has a role to play in getting it right.

Anyone not following these rules or behaving in an unacceptable way will be asked – and expected – to stop doing so immediately and may be removed from the event. Read our Event Code of Conduct here.

Sustainability

Our Commitment to Sustainability

In Australia, we are committed to running our events in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Across Informa Connect we are focusing on the short and long-term sustainability impacts we have on customers and colleagues alongside the communities we work in.

We recognise that it’s not just about the way we produce our events and products but recognising that we have a role to play in providing a space to work in partnership together with our markets to inspire the sustainable development of the industries we serve.

To read more on our latest sustainability reports and Faster Forward initiatives – click here.

ConnectMe

ConnectMe: Networking enhanced!

All our events utilise a bespoke dynamic smartphone app called ConnectMe, guaranteeing you a premium event experience. Logins are sent prior to the conference commencement allowing you to see who’s attending, schedule in meetings and catch ups, participate in live Q+A and interactive polls, and much more. The ConnectMe App ensures you never miss a beat prior, during and post event.

when & where

30 - 31 Jul 2024

PARKROYAL Darling Harbour, Sydney
150 Day St, Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9261 1188

Book accommodation with HotelMaps
To access the best available rate, book here.

Get Directions
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contact

Still have a question?

General Information & Registration
Customer Service
+61 2 9080 4307
info@informa.com.au

Sponsorship & Exhibition Opportunities
Andrew Sinkovich
Sponsorship & Exhibition Manager
+61 447 521 217
Andrew.Sinkovich@informa.com.au

Marketing & Media Enquiries
Libbie Sinclair
Marketing Manager
Libbie.Sinclair@informa.com

Speaking Enquiries
Vanessa Arnaoutis
Conference Manager
+61 429 055 521
Vanessa.Arnaoutis@informa.com

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