In 2009 the Department of Defence offered the Newcastle region a $2.9 million grant to prepare young people to work in the local defence industry by improving STEM education in schools. The money was picked up by the local economic promotion body, Regional Development Australia (RDA) Hunter, which initially used it to build links between local employers and high schools.

Under the ME program – which initially stood for manufacturing education – employers mentored schools, sending people to talk to students, letting teachers know what skills they wanted to see in young recruits, and offered work experience to students.

But the scheme soon evolved into something much bigger. RDA Hunter joined with Scott Sleap, a teacher at Maitland Grossman High School, to develop the iSTEM subject. St Philip’s starting teaching it last year.

St Philip’s students love it’s hands-on approach. They still have to turn in written work but they do that later to analyse what they did and why it succeeded or failed.

Their teacher loves it too. “I’ve been teaching for 20 years. I’ve never felt better as a teacher than when I’m getting out of the way,” says Mr Bonzo.

From 11pc in physics to 17pc

Professor Chubb believes the iSTEM class will have a permanent impact on the students. “Some of them will end up lawyers, some of them will end up accountants. But I bet you it influences the way they think,” he says.

RDA Hunter CEO Todd Williams says organisations like his need to be more involved in education to ensure a skilled workforce is available for economic development. RDA Hunter’s ME program is now operating in 26 of the 52 high schools in the Hunter region and the results are persuasive.

In 2011, Hunter region schools in the ME program had 11 per cent of students choosing physics in year 11, below the state average of 15 per cent. But by 2014 the Hunter figure in ME schools was up to 17 per cent, while the state average had fallen to 14 per cent. The change was even more spectacular in engineering studies where, in 2011, Hunter ME schools had 5 per cent of year 11 students choosing engineering compared to a state average of 4 per cent. But by 2014 this rose to 12 per cent compared to a state average still at 4 per cent.

If the students surging into STEM courses continue into a career, they will have a chance of finding a job locally. BAE Systems, an aerospace company which is one of the employers supporting the ME program, says it will need 200 more STEM-trained recruits in Newcastle when the RAAF’s new F-35 Lightning II, the Joint Strike Fighter, comes to the local air base later this decade.

Read more: http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/how-a-defence-department-grant-turned-students-on-to-science-20150727-gilalv#ixzz3iT3z3TDn
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