{"id":14378,"date":"2020-11-05T12:52:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T02:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/?p=14378"},"modified":"2024-03-08T16:31:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T06:31:09","slug":"new-indigenous-education-program-focused-on-stem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/new-indigenous-education-program-focused-on-stem\/","title":{"rendered":"New Indigenous Education Program focused on STEM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Students from the Northern Peninsula Area State College in Far North Queensland have been the first to take part in a new Indigenous Education Program launched just before NAIDOC week 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, introduced by Origin Energy Foundation partner SolarBuddy<\/a>, focuses on increasing STEM education opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students living in regional, low-socioeconomic and off-grid areas across Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hands-on experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As part of the experience, students became global citizens as they learned about renewable energy, extreme energy poverty, and the role of Indigenous knowledge and science in finding solutions to global issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 300 Northern Peninsula Area State College students across three campuses took part in the program, assembling individual SolarBuddy solar lights. The solar lights will allow them to study and read after dusk with a reliable and safe source of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For every light assembled by the students, Origin Energy Foundation will donate a light to a child living in energy poverty in Papua New Guinea, accompanied by a letter written by their \u201csolar buddy\u201d in Bamaga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since SolarBuddy lights<\/a> have been introduced in PNG, children are studying up to 78 per cent longer. Reliance on kerosene and other dangerous fuels for lighting has been reduced by 80 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating Indigenous knowledge into STEM education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SolarBuddy General Manager, Billie Murphy, says the new program is unique in its celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples\u2019 ongoing contribution to STEM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe continue to learn so much from traditional Indigenous knowledge, skills and philosophies about land management, science, medicine and the sustainable management of the environment,\u201d Ms Murphy said. \u201cIncorporating Indigenous knowledge into our STEM education program was a priority to ensure the best program outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SolarBuddy worked with Indigenous educators to develop the program which aims to support and inspire Indigenous students to engage with STEM. Incorporating Indigenous knowledge, along with the development of a culturally responsive curriculum and teaching approach, is in line with strategies to improve STEM education opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Origin Energy Foundation is a long-term supporter of SolarBuddy\u2019s Education Program and funded the launch of this latest adaptation at the Northern Peninsula Area State College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBringing together the STEM focus of the SolarBuddy program with Traditional Indigenous Knowledge is an inspiring way to engage these young students on their education journey and highlight the importance of Indigenous culture in STEM,\u201d said Ruth Lee, Origin Energy Foundation\u2019s volunteering-program manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur volunteers have taken the SolarBuddy program to more than 100 schools across Australia over the past two years,\u201d Ms Lee said, \u201cbut this new Indigenous education program is something we\u2019re particularly proud to support with its strong links to Indigenous knowledge and science.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly rewarding to see the impact of STEM as these students become global citizens for the day, and discover how simple renewable-energy technologies can make a real difference to energy poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in FNQ have been the first to take part in a new Indigenous Education Program launched just before NAIDOC week 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[43,44],"oe_author":[],"class_list":["post-14378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-and-people","tag-community","tag-origin-energy-foundation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14378"},{"taxonomy":"oe_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oe_author?post=14378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}