25 Mar 2021
These Hawker College students are taking STEM education to new heights.
In their most recent learning expedition, the Year 12 engineering and Year 11 physics classes at Hawker College visited iFLY Indoor Skydiving in Penrith to put their understanding of aerodynamics to the test.
Bob and Enya are in Year 12 at Hawker College and were part of the cohort that travelled up to Sydney last week.
Although Bob had tried indoor skydiving before, his second time in the wind tunnel was just as thrilling as the first. He explained the dynamics at work that allowed the students to fly.
“In the case of indoor skydiving you have a tube of wind going upwards, you fall into it and lay out flat. Because we’ve got a large surface area, we can lean forward and float and our wind resistance means we counter gravity and stay in the same place or move around depending on how we place our bodies,” Bob said.
“It was exhilarating! Because of all the protection there - you’ve got the safety net and the instructor in there with you - you can focus more on flying around and having fun,” Bob said.
Enya appreciated the effort that went in to planning such a challenging lesson.
“Our teachers always try to keep things practical. It definitely makes learning easier and more enjoyable,” Enya said.
Ryan Elwell has been a science teacher at Hawker College for over four years and also runs WINGS, Hawker College’s Girls in STEM initiative for local high schools.
In addition to their recent iFLY excursion, Ryan has also organised a tour of the NCI (National Computational Infrastructure) supercomputer at the Australian National University and built partnerships with the local universities.
“When students can talk to people that are really using these subjects every day for a career, it takes their understanding to another level,” Ryan said.
“I can talk about Antarctic research, but somebody showing up with a full mannequin suit and a model penguin and showing pictures and videos is always going to win.”
Ryan hopes that by incorporating an element of fun into his lessons, more students will feel empowered to take on traditionally challenging classes.
Although they’ve touched back down in Canberra now, the students can now apply their practical experience with human flight to their understanding of fluidity and aerodynamics.