Scitech will be closed 25th and 26th of December
Scitech will be closed 25th and 26th of December
Scitech will be closed 25th and 26th of December
Scitech will be closed 25th and 26th of December
Perth and Peel primary school teachers and their students have been building digital technology skills.
Perth and Peel primary school teachers and their students have been building digital technology skills with the Alcoa Foundation Champions of Digital Technologies program.
Supported by the Alcoa Foundation and delivered by Scitech, the year-long professional learning program is designed to increase teachers’ digital literacy and ability to integrate digital learning across all subject areas.
Eight teachers from Calista Primary School, Dwellingup Primary School, Austin Cove Baptist College, and Rockingham Beach Primary School took part in the program in 2025.
Dwellingup Primary School teacher Heather Morgan reflected that she used to find teaching digital technologies overwhelming and anxiety-inducing.
“My fear of digital technologies left me with knees shaking and heart beating rapidly at the thought of failing and not being able to answer students’ questions,” Mrs Morgan said.
“Over the past 9 months, however, and with the continual encouragement, everlasting patience and professional understanding of our Scitech Professional Learning consultant, I was taught some valuable advice and given many suggestions on delivering digital technologies within the classroom curriculum.”
Mrs Morgan and fellow program participant, Natasha Leggatt, invited students’ families and the Dwellingup Primary School community to a digital technology showcase event on Monday, 27 October.
Carlos and Maximus de Sancha at the Dwellingup Primary School family day.
Students shared how they have been learning to program educational robots called Bee-Bots, with Year 1 and 2 students incorporating the digital technology into their fire safety lessons, and Kindergarten students using Bee-Bots to learn about the needs of living things.
Using a large floor map of the Dwellingup town, Year 1 and 2 students programmed the Bee-Bots to perform fire and police emergency services roles – evacuating people, heading to the local water source, and extinguishing the fire.
On another map of the bush, Kindergarten students converted the Bee-Bots into ladybugs, programming them to avoid predators, fire, and land clearing to find their way to the safety of a leaf.
Archie and Lucy Myles at the Dwellingup Primary School family day.
Scitech Professional Learning Consultant Lucas Black said it was fantastic to see students proudly sharing their programming skills with their families.
“It’s also an amazing milestone for Mrs Morgan and Mrs Leggatt who have pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and worked really hard throughout the Alcoa Foundation Champions of Digital Technologies program,” Mr Black said.
“Digital technologies can be daunting, but they are skills you can learn and develop.
“Rather than teachers always needing to have all the answers, digital technologies are an opportunity to co-learn with students and model a growth mindset.”
Calista Primary School teacher Elaina Lam participated in the Alcoa Foundation Champions of Digital Technologies in 2024, before taking on the role of coach in 2025 to support her colleagues.
“It has been amazing to see everything that I learnt from the program in 2024 come full circle in 2025,” Miss Lam said.
“I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learnt and share it with other teachers who are also keen to learn.”
Miss Lam said students were not only gaining confidence in digital technologies, but also developing skills in problem-solving, creativity and resilience.
“Students are using a mix of technologies to create solutions to problems and they’re getting adventurous, trying new ways of fixing a problem and even if it doesn’t work, they know they can just keep trying.”
Through the support of the Alcoa Foundation, the Champions of Digital Technologies program is offered free of charge to teachers in the Jarrahdale-Serpentine, Kwinana and Peel regions.
Expressions of Interest for the 2026 program are now open at www.scitech.org.au/alcoa-foundation-digital-technologies-enrichment-program
Freddy and Rupert Lowther (students) and Morgyn Dreaver at the Dwellingup Primary School family day.
Scitech is a not-for-profit organisation proudly supported by the Western Australian Government through the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification
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