What makes a community safe, connected and enjoyable to live in? In this engaging STEM incursion, students become town planners, engineers, coders and inventors as they explore how technology helps solve real-world problems. Through coding, design thinking, immersive virtual reality and creative innovation, students investigate how thoughtful design and emerging technologies can improve the lives of people in their local community.
Mission 1 – Edison Community Challenge
Students become coding engineers as they program Edison robots to navigate a community-themed challenge mat. Working collaboratively, they create and test algorithms to safely travel between important community locations such as schools, hospitals, parks and emergency services while developing computational thinking and problem-solving skills.
Mission 2 – Design a Safer Town
Students step into the role of town planners as they investigate the features of a safe and accessible community. Using maps and design materials, they redesign a neighbourhood by adding features such as pedestrian crossings, bike paths, traffic lights, parks and community facilities that improve safety and wellbeing for everyone.
Mission 3 – Smart City Explorer
Students experience life in a modern city through an immersive virtual reality adventure. As they explore innovative buildings, transport systems and public spaces, they discover how technology is transforming the way communities are designed, connected and sustained.
Mission 4 – Invent the Next Big Idea
Every great invention begins with a problem to solve! Students become young inventors as they identify a challenge faced by people in their community before brainstorming, sketching and presenting an innovative invention that could make everyday life safer, easier or more enjoyable.
Students Will
- Develop coding and computational thinking skills using Edison robots.
- Investigate the features of safe, inclusive and sustainable communities.
- Apply the design thinking process to solve real-world problems.
- Explore how technology shapes modern cities.
- Generate and communicate innovative ideas through invention and design.
- Strengthen collaboration, creativity and problem-solving skills through authentic STEM challenges.