Spring Winter 2022 Newsletter

Solar Buddies is just one of the hands-on learning tools Mrs Desic uses in her classroom! In the classroom with Mrs Desic! They say you always remember your favourite teacher, and after hearing about the exciting projects taking place in Mrs Desic’s classroom, we think her students will be sure to remember her for years to come! Springfield Central State School’s Design and Technologies Teacher, Helen Desic, shares her passion for sustainability, social enterprise and tech with her students every day with her action-packed, interactive curriculum. In her speciality classroom, Mrs Desic welcomes students from year one to six (half the cohort a semester) and leads them through a tailored syllabus where creativity and out- of-the-box thinking is encouraged. “There is a wonderful sequence of learning from years one to six around the design curriculum that leads from consumer and society needs, up to meeting future and present needs incorporating sustainability,” Helen said. Helen said all the learnings come to a head from year four to six where students take their design and technologies teachings and put them to practice in Mrs Desic’s social enterprise program. “In year five we have a great program that involves Solar Buddies. We then do a lot of research around solar energy, energy poverty and renewables and then we get to build it (the Solar Buddy).” Helen said once the Solar Buddies are built, they are sent to a third world country or refugee camp for people in need along with a hand written letter from the student who assembled the equipment. “They love doing that. They really put their heart and soul into this project and appreciate what it means for them to be able to do this and how they are now going to help students in another part of the world have the same access to light and energy that everyone else does.” In year six, students are invited to try their hand at sustainable social entrepreneurship and build a bath bomb business with their classmates. “The design brief is that they will design a social enterprise to help another student and the product will be a bath bomb.” “They are in charge of designing a business name, a logo and they have to design sustainable packaging.” From eco-friendly vertical gardens to recycling initiatives there is so many more exciting initiatives and projects happening in Mrs Desic’s classroom! Mrs Desic