Aboriginal STEM Congress - student VR creativity!

Earlier this month, the Young Aboriginal STEM Thinkers of South Australia (YASTSA) hosted the 2021 STEM Aboriginal Student Congress. The congress provides an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to explore all areas of STEM and to see the connections of their enduring cultural history with the innovations of today. 

It is the largest STEM event of its kind in Australia for Indigenous students and the CSER Team were fortunate to collaborate with our colleagues at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Alliance (ATSIMA) to run four Virtual Reality Workshops during the congress. 

Students participated in a rapid design team challenge collaborating to create fish trap designs on paper initially then progressing to recreating the design in 3D using Virtual Reality and the TiltBrush app with the CSER Lending Library Oculus Quest VR kits. 

Their creations were so detailed! We were able to view the designs by transferring them to SketchFab and viewing them on the conference room monitor together. 

Thanks to YASTA and the SA Department for Education for inviting us to present. 

The CSER Lending Library is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment.