Hear For You has stepped into the world of STEM programs, with the launch of a Robotics workshop – which was a huge success among our teenagers, as well as the mentors!
Offering STEM programs helps us support our deaf and hard of hearing teens through our Life Goals and Skills programs but what exactly is this all about?
What exactly is STEM?
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It’s a mixture of skills and elements that are beneficial to societal advancement, and are becoming widely more common among future career paths. STEM ultimately enables individuals to learn and develop skills that are necessary to progress within a world that is constantly changing and evolving, especially from a technological perspective.
STEM ultimately enables individuals to learn and develop skills that are necessary to progress within a world that is constantly changing and evolving, especially from a technological perspective.
Why is STEM important?
The intention behind STEM is to establish the innovation that is required to assist the economy. STEM is important as it is actively contributing to our everyday life, as the current world we live in revolves heavily around science and technology.
Listed below are reasons why STEM skills are important to develop and why Hear For You want to offer these kinds of programs to support deaf and hard of hearing teenagers around Australia. There is a focus on:
- Contemporary society challenges with globalisation and the concept of a “knowledge-based” economy
- Bridging the gender and ethnic gaps that have been discovered in the fields of Science and Maths
- The evolving global economy
- Advancing Australia’s productivity and economy
- Gaps in the current job market
- The rapid advancement of technology – changing the nature of students in the way they learn, interact and connect within contemporary society.
What are some STEM skills?
Some of the skills that are linked to STEM are listed below (though there may be many more):
- Critical analysis: the ability to deeply analyse, examine or evaluate a body of work, including images, text and performance
- Collaborative skills
- Creative thinking
- The ability to take initiative, be independent and establish a sense of leadership
- Problem solving
- Digital literacy.
Hear For You recognises the importance of STEM skills in the current society and think it’s important for deaf and hard of hearing teenagers to understand and use these skills to the best of their ability.
How is Hear For You implementing STEM into our programs?
Our first STEM program was introduced in July, starting with a Robotics workshops, hosted by Junior Engineers. This was an exciting workshop that enabled teens to learn the Arduino electronics platform that taught them to build their own hand-held gaming console and code it with awesome retro computer games such as space invaders or pong!
Hear For You recognises the importance of STEM skills in the current society and think it’s important for deaf and hard of hearing teenagers to understand and use these skills to the best of their ability. There is an increasing demand for STEM skills within the workforce, as well as through students and their learning.
We are working towards implementing more STEM related programs in the near future. Marie and Heather, two of our Sydney Hear For You mentors who were involved in our recent Robotics program stated that they learnt so much whilst having fun at the same time and could see that the teenagers enjoyed it too. Watch Marie and Heather below!
Tell us what STEM programs you would like us to run!
We would love to roll out more STEM programs in the coming months. Please tell us what programs you would like to see offered. It could be coding, design, or robotics for example! Email us here!
