EDfutures Influencer: Chee K Wong

Chee K Wong, Owner –  e2 Young Engineers Perth

Chee has spent most of his adult life acting as the “interpreter” between business and technical. He has this uncanny abilities of using simple language to convey very complicated ideas. He first discovered these abilities when he was working in the technology industry where he was often asked to “translate” business speak into technical specifications.

These days, he owns and operates e2 Young Engineers, Perth. His team of instructors can be found engaging, enriching and inspiring children from 11 primary schools throughout Perth. Chee is a regular guest presenter at Scitech and speaks at various conferences related to STEM education.

Tell us a bit about e2 Young Engineers…

“We live for one thing – to see our students experience that “light-globe” moment that makes everything possible.

We provide STEM education programs using Lego in primary schools – that’s what the marketing department would like me to say. I think what where we really excel is the way we come up with crazy but believable real-world problem-solving scenarios that takes students through amazing experiences. The keywords are problem-solving and experience. Through these experiences, students learn but more importantly it triggers their curiosity to keep them seeking new knowledge. When we create these experiences, we use elements of story-telling, hands-on demonstrations and our specially designed Lego kits to make learning fun, accessible and rapid. We work with teachers, school leaders & students from PP-6 and we are part of a larger network that also operates in QLD, NSW & VIC.”

What partnerships do you have with the community?

In 2017, we discussed forming partnerships with several schools, including John XXIII College about the opportunity to become what we call an Exemplary Engineering School (EES). The idea of EES is to demonstrate to primary school leaders and teachers that anyone can teach engineering (Yes anyone!  It’s not that scary) and easily embed more authentic problem-solving opportunities into their classroom. In its entirety, EES is intended to be a whole-school – community – industry ecosystem. A concept that I know is used at EDfutures regularly. At present, several schools are piloting the first stage of EES – enabling internal teaching staff to deliver engineering in their school.

We are also engaging with industry to seek interested groups to collaborate on EES. I see industry as an important component to this ecosystem because so many kids lack the creative problem-solving skills that is so fondly looked upon by industry. In addition, I’ve read reports that suggests that many kids have already disengaged with STEM (ie, chosen a non-STEM career path) by the time they leave primary school. These are factors that industry should care about.

It is my hope that every school will deliver engineering as they would with any of the general capabilities in the curriculum. This may seem a far-fetched idea to most because of pre-conceptions of what engineering is, but once you get familiar with the idea that engineering is actually a methodology to solving problems then this really starts to make sense.”

What drives you personally in your work?

“Personally, I’m on a mission to save humanity. Seriously! I have this vision in my head that about fifteen years from now (when current primary students become adults) we will arrive in a workplace that is vastly different. There will be no jobs, no salary and lots of automation. It will be an age where creativity and on-the-spot problem-solving skills reign supreme because every previously known fact, formula or process would have already been coded into a ‘sub-routine’. Many futurists talk about the job losses when this age arrives, but I don’t see that as the biggest problem. I see mental health on a massive scale as the most profound problem we will face.”

Learn more about e2 Young Engineers here.

Rees Barrett, School Programs Coordinator, UNAAWA

Rees has 45 years’ experience in education including secondary teaching in the Humanities and Social Sciences area (geography, history and citizenship), educational administration, curriculum, assessment and school review. Curriculum experience includes the Kindergarten to Year 10 Social Studies syllabus (1980s), National curriculum for Australia (1990s) and VET in Schools. Rees has published textbooks in Australian geography and a primary library series Significant People in Australia’s History (2009). Since retiring from full-time work in education, Rees had led the development of the UNAA Global Citizenship Schools and related programs.

Tell us a bit about UNNAWA and how the organisation developed…

“Supported by a dedicated Executive and Education Reference Group, we set out in 2016 to build a network of schools and curriculum resources that promote active global citizenship. In a world of rampaging nationalism, we aspire to support schools seeking a broader perspective of citizenship for their students. Global challenges require global solutions.

The UNESCO model for Global Citizenship Education (GCEd) provides an ideal pedagogic platform, confirmed by its underpinning of the new PISA Global Competence test (2018). We tested its alignment with the new WA curriculum, demonstrating that GCEd is a value-adding curriculum lens rather than additional curriculum content.

The UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs or Global Goals) provide a concrete, unifying context for engaging our youngsters with authentic, integrated learning and problem-solving wholly relevant to their futures. Through this mix, we are adding value to our WA ‘curriculum capital’.”

Can you tell us some of the success stored from UNNAWA?

“The UNAAWA GCEd Schools network now has 27 members (from Kindergarten to Year 12) and our digital resources bank has over 25 items aiming to support teachers’ and students’ understandings of the ideals and work of the UN. Nine experienced speakers have joined our ‘human library’ in the School Speakers program and we are in our third year of Student Parliaments. We attracted nearly 100 students from 15 schools in two ‘sittings’ of the parliament this year. They designed and pitched student-led, school-based SDG projects.

Three award programs use our global brand to promote outstanding GCEd initiatives in WA schools. The Yolande Frank Art Awards promote human rights education, engaging students (Year 4 to Year 12) in visually communicating a selected right. The Student Global Goals Challenge recognises student initiatives in one or more of the SDGs. The World Teachers’ Day Awards recognise diverse, outstanding teacher GCEd.

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority approval of the UNAAWA Global Citizenship and Sustainability program as WACE-endorsed units (2018 to 2022) is our most recent success. We aim to promote the creativity and intercultural understanding of our students by building a sample of their SDG innovations developed through this program. Year 10 STEM students at Shenton College who are piloting the program will provide our first samples and gain credit towards their WACE.”

How important have community partnerships been as you have developed and grown UNNAWA?

“The Learning Futures team at Curtin University was among the first to provide affirming support. Professor David Gibson, a world-recognised leader in his field, advised us that students participating in UNAAWA programs are eligible for Curtin SHAPE Scholarships. He encourages students to retain evidence of their learning through UNAAWA programs as ‘valuable Portfolio information about the kind of learning needed for the future’.

We now have a rapidly growing list of partnerships formed with like-minded groups including our member schools, Curtin Learning Futures, Fogarty EDfutures, One World Centre, Young Australians Plan for the Planet, Sustainable Schools Alliance WA, Museum of Freedom and Tolerance, Sustainable Development Goals Network and Meerilinga. These partnerships highlight the important unifying power of the SDGs and the critical role of civil society in progressing positive, democratic change.

We set out with a vision of empowering young Australians in our complex, uncertain world. The UNESCO GCEd model and UN SDGs provide our vehicle for achieving that vision. Our intergenerational work contributes to the moral imperative of building a fairer, sustainable world. Curriculum innovations like the UNAAWA WACE-endorsed units support schools wanting to provide highly relevant and engaging contexts for students to integrate and apply learning across the curriculum.”

Learn more about UNNAWA’s School programs.

EDfutures Community Night: Sensing our emerging future in education

WHEN: August 7th 2018, 5:30 – 7:30pm

WHERE: Lotteries House, City West

WHY: Community nights are an opportunity for us to welcome new members and a create some energy and understanding around EDfutures. Each community night will focus on a different theme. This month, Karen Wellington will be joining us to present key ideas on our theme of, “sensing the emerging future in education”, inspired by her recent involvement in Presencing Institute‘s program during the Perth Social Impact Festival (check it out!).

WIIFM: WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Karen Wellington

Karen is a social innovator and systems change catalyst. After joining the Fogarty Foundation in 2014, Karen led the growth of the CoderDojo WA network from 2 to over 130 computer programming clubs statewide. In 2015 Karen completed the Graduate Certificate in Social Impact at UWA under scholarship from the Australian Centre for Social Impact. She is currently completing a Masters in (Sustainable) Community Development and has been recognised as a Student Fellow of Murdoch University’s Learning Excellence Academy (LEAD). In 2017 Karen travelled internationally on a Westpac Social Change fellowship, investigating the question of “how could we collectively build a learning society that benefits all?”

Connect with Karen @Karentton

Shared drives and the Sea of Change

We thought it would be helpful to check in with the EDfutures community every now and then with a little round-up of what we’ve been up to at the Fogarty Foundation. And so, without further ado, here’s our EDfutures Round-Up: July edition.

Phew, OK, it’s been a crazy six weeks since we launched EDfutures on May 29th! Our mission at the Foundation is to support the EDfutures community to grow the BIG vision of our little ecosystem. While all the heads down, bums up action that entails is exciting, this round-up presents a good opportunity for us to pause and have a, “what the hell have we been doing with our lives?” moment.

After finishing up on launch night, I was seriously eyeing up the remaining Little Creatures Pale Ales! Being pregnant, I settled for a hot cup of Milo which, after reading the “nutrition” information, I decided was basically like eating a salad — Iron, B vitamins… Milo, my hero! I took a couple of days downtime to stare blankly into the distance and then it was right back to business.

What follows is a snapshot of some of the key initiatives we focussed on over the last few weeks — the ideas, who we talked with and what we learned….

CoderDojo WA are a finalist in the Most Impactful Social Benefit Category of the WAITTA Incite Awards, recognised for outstanding ICT solutions. Today the three of us from the Fogarty Foundation (Janelle, Rebecca and Karen) shared some of the successes and stories from the WA Dojo community with the judging panel.

Congratulations to every single member of the CoderDojo movement in WA. The nomination is recognition of all the amazing work you are doing getting young Western Australians coding. Now, fingers crossed for the awards in June.

Woodside kicked of their Dojo in July 2016 with a team of 12 Woodside graduates supporting the Dojo (5 Champions and 7 Mentors). They’ve impressively attracted 48 Ninjas to come along to their Dojo and they’ve even had appearances from a guest robot.

Woodside are now Coderdojo WA’s Principal Partner. Woodside also support Scitech, Coderdojo WA’s Founding Partner and we look forward to the 3 organisations working together.

Read more about the Woodside Dojo here where Joshua Goyder (a Woodside Graduate/Mentor) talks about his experience in his article ‘Three Things I Learnt Teaching 48 Ninjas to Code’.

Terry Keesing, Champion at Rostrata Primary School

This month, Rostrata Primary School opened its doors to 95 Ninjas!! Because of the huge demand, they had to split their Dojo into three separate sessions! I caught up with Champion Terry Keesing to ask some questions about his Dojo experience:

What has been the best part of setting up your Dojo?

The best part of setting up a Dojo is seeing the excitement generated by the children while working on their projects.  The ninjas are very focused and love the interaction amongst themselves and the free choice they have to work on whatever they want. Is also great to see the girls getting involved in large numbers, and being involved in projects such as robotics. The parent mentors have been helpful and the Dojo has a nice warm community feel about it.

What has been the most unexpected part of the Dojo experience so far?

The most unexpected part was the large number of children wanting to be involved.  We didn’t want to turn anyone away, so with 95 Ninjas enrolled, the number of Dojos increased to three. The Dojos run before school from 7.30 to 8.30 three mornings a week.

Any advice for new Champions?

My advice to Champions is: don’t worry about starting a Dojo! I have no coding experience myself, I am just a facilitator of opportunities. I think a little bit of structure is good, but have plenty of opportunities to explore available. For example, I have a web page with hyperlinks to different coding sites. This gives Ninjas an idea of what’s available to them. Mbot robots are fantastic for construction and purposeful coding, and Raspberry Pi and Raspbian are a cheap and great way to encourage coding projects. You don’t have to know about these things though! The Ninjas work together to solve their own problems, and that is the real value of running a Coder Dojo.

Perth has more Dojos than any other city in the world

Congratulations everyone…Perth is now home to 48 Dojos, with 50 Dojos in Western Australia! We saw a large jump in our numbers recently thanks to Ross from CoderDojo Global assisting with verifications, and it just keeps growing! These new bragging rights are testament to the AMAZING work Karen Wellington has done in helping to build and support such a wonderful WA community of Dojos. As Karen always says, “YOU ARE SUPER IMPORTANT”, and we can’t echo this enough! It’s always a pleasure to see how supportive the online community is, and how helpful you are when it comes to running and organising events, welcoming new Dojo family members, and just generally being cool. Hopefully we will see this number continue to grow throughout WA, helping more and more Ninjas to develop skills and passion in this important area. The future of WA is in good hands.

Kancho Calling – Dojo Census

In order to get a better picture of the Dojos in WA, we are asking Champions to please complete a VERY short Dojo census. This includes questions as to how the Foundation can better serve the community in 2016, and whether your Dojo is looking for mentors.

As well as improving our support of the community, we want to begin envisioning the next step for Dojos in WA, asking the question, “after CoderDojo, then what?”. Perhaps this will mean developing industry links and internship programs for Ninjas, perhaps it will mean helping Dojos to identify Black Belt Ninjas that we can support; however this unfolds, your feedback will be central to the process, and the Dojo census is the first step in achieving this. Thanks for your support.

Welcome, Rebecca

LOFR

In March we welcomed Rebecca Loftus, who has stepped into Karen’s role as the CoderDojo WA program manager. Rebecca has spent the past four years living and working in Karratha, as the Head of the Science Department at St Luke’s College. She moved back to Perth at the beginning of the year and is currently completing her doctoral studies at Murdoch University. Her research area is Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education, which is a new model for education that, coincidentally, has a lot in common with the already established CoderDojo model. Welcome, Rebecca.

Welcome, Neve

Karen hasn’t had too much time to relax with the arrival of her mini-Ninja Neve Aniko Wellington on the 24th of April. We wish Karen all the best on this new adventure, and look forward to her return towards the end of the year. Welcome, baby Neve.

New Online Home

Our new Website went live in April. Huge shout out to Karen Wellington and Robyn King, for driving this change, and thanks to the folks at Draw History for doing such an amazing job! We are calling on the community to send us news, pictures and stories from your Dojos so that we can share the good work that you do with everyone in WA, and beyond.

“Dozens of digital technology ‘ninjas’ are spending Saturday mornings working on games, apps, robots and 3D designs at ‘CoderDojo’ in Geraldton. The pilot CoderDojo program will run throughout Term 1 and meets demand from local children and young adults who want to get creative with technology. The sessions are each Saturday 10-12 at Durack Institute of Technology and parents can register children to attend online http://pollinators.org.au/learning/coderdojo/

CoderDojo is a facilitated program fueling young people’s passion for coding and better understanding the technology that shapes their world. In each 2 hour session participants hear about inspirational examples and are supported by peers and mentors to work on their own digital projects. CoderDojo makes development and learning to code a fun, sociable, rewarding experience and similar groups are run in more than 51 countries.

At the end of the first session, participants gave high ratings and praise for the format:

“I liked having experienced coders to help me when I needed help. It was great having it at the TAFE since the computers I was able to use were effective and helpful.”

“…the coding was fun and tricky but I got through it. It was a challenge that’s what I liked.”

Andrew Outhwaite, Community Lead at Pollinators Inc described a little more about the motivation behind the pilot:

“As well as being fun and educational, CoderDojo provides skills and inspiration for young people pursuing digital careers. According to recent national reports, there is a projected gap of more than 100,000 ICT workers in Australia in the next five years. Another report estimated up to 25% of the State’s economy will be impact by disruptive digital and internet technologies in the next ten year.”

“If our region wants a slice of the massive growth in digital and tech industries, local programs like CoderDojo are essential. Working with schools, Durack, GUC and local businesses we can grow the local digital economy and be a ‘smarter’ city and region while still having fun with our digital devices.”

Darren Winterbine, Training Director for the Management, Automotive, Computing and Engineering portfolios at Durack said,

 “We are very supportive of this initiative to engage young people in coding.  In addition to providing a safe and inclusive space for the participants, our Computing Lecturers and students are volunteering to mentor and guide them through the program.” Mr Winterbine continued, 

“Our computer labs are up to date with the latest technology, making them an ideal learning environment for the group.”

The CoderDojo team are also on the lookout for technical mentors, and parent volunteers. Parents at the first session were already creating helpful automations for work and home using their phones and some fantastic software.

The CoderDojo pilot program is an initiative of Pollinators Inc thanks to funding and support from  Mid West Science Engagement Group, Inspiring Australia and Scitech. Local partners include Durack Institute of Technology, with Fogarty Foundation and CoderDojo Foundation providing program support.”

Story from: http://pollinators.org.au/2016/02/22/coderdojo_geraldton/