New resource to inspire budding scientists

St Agatha’s Primary School in Melbourne was the first school in Australia to implement Stile Double Helix Lessons from CSIRO in its Grade 5 classrooms.

The new digital lessons provide teachers with resources to teach science to Grade 5 and 6 students in a relevant and engaging way.

Created by leaders in the fields of science, technology and education, the lessons use video, animation, interactive games and activities to deliver science education.

Paul Sharp, Deputy Principal, St Agatha’s Primary School, said: “We are delighted to be rolling out the program to our Grade 5 students. To be able to deliver such amazing content and interactives is incredible. We’d never be able to create this type of digital content ourselves.

“Sourcing and planning lesson content is incredibly time consuming. With Double Helix Lessons, all of the information is already in the one place. We’ve had teachers run the program without any technical instruction whatsoever, it’s extremely easy to use and the lessons can be tailored to suit individual classrooms or students,” Sharp said.

Building on the content and themes explored in CSIRO’s Double Helix magazine, Double Helix Lessons not only champion innovative STEM learning, but also provide a tangible solution to the issue of declining interest in STEM subjects in high school.

Stile is an Edtech platform that was founded in 2012 by entrepreneur, educator and Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel out of a desire to inspire school students and spark a lifelong interest in science and the world around them.

Stile partners with leading science organisations and schools in its continuing mission to rethink textbooks and STEM education at large.

Thousands of secondary school teachers from over 300 schools already use the Stile platform to deliver their science curriculum via COSMOS lessons.

The new partnership with CSIRO will see Grade 5 and 6 primary school students also benefit from relevant and interactive digital STEM learning.

Double Helix Lessons: www.doublehelixlessons.csiro.au

The platform encourages individualised learning, can be accessed on any device, and allows teachers to view in depth analytics on their students’ performance in real time.