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In April, Dr Louise Kay and Liz Jansen from the Maker{Futures} team travelled to Australia to deliver CPD sessions and makerspace workshops to teachers and children in Perth, Purnululu in the Australian outback, and Brisbane.
Our first stop was at Edith Cowan University where the workshop participants had a challenge to ‘Save the Planet Zorb’. Unfortunately, a meteorite had struck Planet Zorb and many of its inhabitants, the Zorbites, had been injured and the planet was badly damaged. The first task was to create an illuminated warning tower out of paper to warn the inhabitants from the rest of the universe that planet Zorb was not safe. The tower had to be strong enough to hold a light and the higher the better. The second part of the task was to make a DisasterBot to help the Zorbites, made from a paper cup and motor. Finally, disaster relief was required and participants had to rebuild some of the Zorb infrastructure that had been damaged by the meteorite including bridges, hospitals and other amenities using the available resources.
The second event was working with teachers from the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia. At this event we used children’s stories for inspiration to make play dough circuits and cardboard constructions.
Saving Planet Zorb at Edith Cowan University
Playdough circuits and cardboard construction
We then took a flight up to Kunnunura in Northern Australia (crocodile country!) and took a three hour drive down to Purnululu Aboriginal Independent Community School to deliver a session on the retelling of the Jambalngarri-warriny doo Joowarriny story (Two Young Boys and the Ghost) using cardboard construction, simple electronics and stop motion animation.
Making cardboard construction animals from the dreaming story
After spending a day sightseeing in Darwin we headed to Brisbane. Here we spent time at the Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and worked with children and teachers at Deception Bay school to start them on their journey of implementing a maker pedagogy in their school.
Working with children and teachers at Deception Bay
It has been an incredible journey across Australia, from the busy cities to the remote outback, where we have had the pleasure of sharing our love for making and learning. Each workshop, from crafting illuminated towers to retelling stories through animation, brought new insights and laughter. We are both at home now, inspired and eager to take on our next creative challenges!
Beware of the crocodiles!
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