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The STEM course has had two previous editions and has been extremely popular, boasting an extensive waiting list. Taught by a Computer Scientist and Software Developer whose daughter is in the course, this makes for unrivalled commitment to the quality of the content delivered.
The overarching goal of the sessions is to teach the students about everything related to STEM including the foundational principles of physics - yes, even quantum mechanics (1st Edition), and Logic and Computational Thinking (2nd Edition) among other topics.
In the 2nd Edition we had a very specific goal in mind: to help the students perform well above average on the UK Bebras Challenge and get some of them into the international, invitation-only Oxford University Computing Challenge. The results are not back yet but the latest mocks were very encouraging.
For this upcoming 3rd Edition (13th/Jan/2025 - 31/Mar/2025), we'll use the reputable Junior Mathematical Challenge (Years 7 & 8) and Intermediate Mathematical Challenge (Years 9, 10 & 11) as our goals and will dive into Maths as well as the foundations of Software Development, and will aim for some girls to get an invitation for the Junior Kangaroo or even Junior Mathematical Olympiad (Years 7 & 8), or the Grey or Pink Kangaroos, or one of the Cayley, Hamilton or Maclaurin olympiads (Years 9, 10 & 11).
The reason all those levels can benefit from the club is that we're going to go in depth over content most of the girls would have learnt mechanically.
The current plan for the 4th Edition is to focus on Software Development (this is subject to change).
A weekly communication is sent out detailing the content delivered in the week's session and including a link to any slides used. The goal is that families can review the content with their children and delve deeper into anything they would like to.
Important note: even though there is a fun, relaxed atmosphere (except when someone misbehaves in a disruptive way), all the topics are treated seriously and with rigour. The goal of the course is not to make STEM "fun". Instead, the focus is on making it interesting.by linking knowledge from different areas and including funny and amusing examples that are usually not associated with STEM (politics, marketing, personal life, etc.)
The plan below is indicative only, as the time spent on any topic can be increased or reduced depending on the interest shown by the main audience: the students.
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Weeks 1 - 3 Setting the foundations Basic algebra and logic |
Most children are taught the mechanical way of doing arithmetic and algebra (column method, long multiplication, etc.) Here we'll explain why those methods work, how they were created in the first place, getting into the maths principles that underpin them. Being confident with your ORs and ANDs is key when taking on a challenge like the JMC. Questions are intentionally made in a very logical way, which can be confusing to someone not used to it. This covers the typical questions from the first section of the JMC. |
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Week 4 & 5 Introduction to Software Development via spreadsheets |
Software Development is based on some very basic principles that are easy to grasp via spreadsheets: variables, functions and references. Spreadsheets are also an extremely useful tool in everyday life. We'll use Google Spreadsheets to solve some maths problems and consolidate the knowledge from the previous weeks. This will just be a quick intro in the hope that it makes the girls realise what a great tool they have at their disposal and start using it more at school and home. A future edition of STEM will probably be about Software Development. |
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Weeks 6 - 8 Geometry |
Similarly to the first week, the goal is not to repeat what the girls have been taught in their maths lessons. Instead, we'll try to present things from different angles (pun intended), getting deeper into the why and how things are related. Bring examples from ancient Greeks and Egyptians, what very real problems they were trying to solve when they invented what we today call geometry. This covers the second section of the JMC. . |
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Week 9 - 11 Proportions and Problem Solving (+ Coding?) |
Probably the most challenging aspect of any intellectual challenge, e.g. the JMC is when you're asked to solve a problem without telling you what tools to use. This is why "word problems" are usually much more difficult than plain arithmetic, even though the solution to most "word problems" in primary school is some simple arithmetic. The JMC takes this to another level, and in this session we'll focus on solving problems from past JMCs. Depending on how many girls get invited to the UK Bebras Coding Challenge, we might spend some time revisiting aspects of Computational Thinking.
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