It's been great to have Pre-Service teachers in this year, introducing them to the role of a facilitator in the classroom, and last week we said goodbye to our second group. Read below to find out how the second group found the placement, and aspects they took away from their time here.
Monash Tech school has provided a unique placement experience. The facilitation of a program completely foreign to myself and my three pre-service colleagues in our second week daunted us at first. However, after some observation of the Superhumans program, its mystery unfurled.
We eventually grew in confidence enough to work with students from Mt Waverley Secondary College on solutions - wholly designed by them - for a range of issues with the heart, hand, eye and kidney. These were innovative creations, and our role was to guide small groups in working together as a team as they conceived, prototyped, and pitched a range of devices intended to help patients. Our Year 7’s received an early introduction to a design thinking process, which structured their collaborative efforts as they came up with remarkably refined bionic, wearable, and implant solutions.
My colleagues and I also saw some astounding facilities in the City of Monash throughout our placement. A tour focused on careers of the future took us to microfluidic and medical device manufacturer MiniFab, as well as Agilent Technologies, a research institute specialising in mass spectrometry. These were both world-class facilities, as were the organisations we visited on a professional development day at Monash University. There we inspected FLEET, Woodside Innovation Centre, “The Cave” facility and CSIRO and I was truly astounded to find what was housed within my own educational campus, unbeknownst to me.
The placement was not without a significant hard work component. Our final day was the deadline to deliver comprehensively planned and resourced units of work, falling within our own disciplines but also drawing on the programs of the tech school. This was truly challenging, but after much thinking, designing and refining, I was proud of the English unit I designed as well as the units on History, Media, and Science created by my contemporaries. I have to thank the team at Monash Tech School for their support and commitment to providing us with a thorough, rounded learning experience.
written by Thomas Dartnell
