Catherine McAuley Students Showcase Their STEM Projects

The Comfy Class Team developed designs for sustainable school furniture

STEM MAD is a program where students develop a STEM project that is designed to make a difference (MAD).

The Year 10 students who took part this year have been meeting since March with their teams and industry mentors after school every Monday. Projects developed by the students included designs for an ear implant to help with vertigo, a design for sustainable school furniture, a digital stethoscope to transmit vital information to a GP, a device to help with posture while using technology and an AI plushie.

All schools in the Parramatta Diocese came together on Wednesday 7th August at CathWest Innovation College to display their work. Miss Reynolds, Science and Mathematics Teacher and STEM Coordinator, said that the showcase gave the students the chance to display their projects with their peers, the opportunity to receive feedback and learn from viewing other student work. “Our teams were outstanding in their presentations and received a lot of positive feedback from the judges”, Miss Reynolds said.

Congratulations go to the following teams for their special awards:

‘Kaida’ - Highly Commended Project on the Day
Natalia K., Rhea T., Alphonsa J. and Gabrielle F.

‘Tech Neck’ - Best Overall Project on the Day
Kashish A.

‘ZenZoo Buddy’ - Highly Commended Communication
Adut K., Majerin P., Heidi K. and Tanisha A.

The students from ‘Kaida’, who were awarded the ‘Highly Commended Project’, decided on developing a digital stethoscope for use by patients who live in rural or remote areas and may not have easy access to a GP. Their design allows a patient to use the digital stethoscope to recreate a physical auscultation, recording heart sounds and vital electrical information, which can then be transmitted to a GP for analysis. “With almost 28% of the Australian population residing in a rural or remote area, and with cardiovascular health and coronary heart disease a high cause of death in these areas, we identified there may be a need for a product like ours”, said team member Natalia K. “For a doctor to be able to receive vital information without actually having to physically have the patient with them may offer a life saving service”.

The ‘ZenZoo Buddy’ Team was awarded a ‘Highly Commended Communication’ award for the communication concerning their product. The team created an AI Friend/Therapist specifically for children suffering from social and separation anxiety. “We chose this issue as we felt children’s mental health is not prioritised enough compared to physical health and both are equally important”, sais team member Adut K. “Separation anxiety is something one of our team members as a child suffered from so we wanted to try and find a solution to the problem”.