A big year for VAQ in 2008

Registration for VAQ PD day April 5th 2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:43:26 +0900

News Flash !! News Flash!! News Flash!! 
The VAQ PD day is Saturday 5 April 2008
Please RSVP by 31/3/08

Registration closes 31/03/08; download the registration form here: VAQ PD April 2008.doc. 
Please register your interest by filling out the form and sending/faxing/e-mailing it to the VAQ Projects Officer.   This is an excellent networking opportunity as well as learning all about the exciting Value Adding Quest competition.   The PD will be a hands-on, informative session to develop your understanding of the Technology and Enterprise Learning Area through The Value Adding Quest.

Date: Saturday 5th April 2008
Time: 9.00 am to 12.00 pm
Venue: St Andrew’s Grammar
Address: 4 Hellenic Drive Dianella WA 6059
Cost: FREE 
Session will include:
Value adding and The Value Adding Quest.
Links between Technology and Enterprise, Value Adding, Sustainability and the Sustainable Schools Project.
Linking your current curriculum to the requirements of the Quest.
Ideas from Technology and Enterprise teachers who have entered the Quest or are on the VAQ Committee.
Opportunities for further learning.  
* Look out for a VAQ Information Flyer in the PTCWA mail-out in the upcoming weeks. 
* VAQ Information packs have been mailed out to all schools in early March, look out for yours, we now have posters to display in your staff-room, postcards and a T & E conference poster. If you haven’t seen these you can download them here.

The 2008 DESIGN CHALLENGE

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:37:11 +0900

Have you thought about our needs here in Western Australia?  Your Design Challenge for 2008 is: 
Develop a product, process, concept or promotion, consistent with sustainability principles, that adds value to a Western Australian primary product and meets a human need.

Write your own design challenge  or task to suit the Value Adding Quest context.
OR
use one of the examples below:

Develop an innovative strategy to promote Western Australian products.
Develop a wheat promotional package demonstrating value adding concepts to display to a group of city children.
Develop an innovative strategy to promote healthy foods to a target group.
Identify a potential market/need for Western Australian fine products made from wood and develop a prototype to demonstrate your ingenuity.
Groups of visitors from an Asian country are visiting your local school. Develop a strategy to promote Western Australian products.
Using ICT create an information product that value adds to a Western Australian primary product.
Promote a primary product using biodegradable packaging.
Develop a sample dish or meal for a target age group for sale at the school canteen demonstrating how it complies with the “traffic light” food and drink policy.
Promote the nutritional value of potatoes, including the design of a potato-based dish suitable for a specific occasion, as outlined in the promotional strategy.
Develop a strategy to promote the “traffic light” healthy food and drink choice’s school policy.
You can download a PDF of the 2008 VAQ Brochure here: VAQbrochure2008.pdf

The West Australian situation

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:36:11 +0900

Western Australia’s primary products and natural environment contribute to our standard of living and quality of life. Many primary products such as fibres, timber, foods and minerals are sold to other countries, often in their natural state or partially processed. These countries value-add to our products and Western Australians pay more when they buy them back as manufactured goods.

Value-adding to our local resources ourselves is more consistent with sustainability principles. Meeting the needs of current and future generations through integration of environmental protection, social advancement and economic prosperity should be better realised by managing our resources in this way.

Promote Western Australian innovation, creativity, enterprise and sustainability by developing products, processes, concepts or promotions designed for the local, national or international market that add value to our local resources.

So if you think you are up to the task take The 2008 Design Challenge!

Download 2008 Entry Form, Poster & Postcard

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:02:27 +0900

The 2008 Value Adding Quest brochure which includes information on how to enter, the prizes available and the entry form is available in schools now. You can also download a PDF of the 2008 VAQ Brochure here: VAQbrochure2008.pdf

The poster is available for downloading and printing out VAQPoster2008.jpg and the postcard is also VAQ postcard.pdf.

We hope this years competition will encourage you, your colleagues and students to embrace the possibilities of technology and enterprise in 2008!

Technology & Enterprise State Conference 2008

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:27:46 +0900

Another incarnation of this immersive and engaging professional development programme is on this May. The CSaLT (Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies) will again host the 2008 Technology & Enterprise state conference in conjunction with the teacher professional associations: BEWA, DATTA, ECAWA, and HEIAWA.
 Dates: 4pm Friday 23rd May – 4pm Saturday 24th May
Location: Edith Cowan University, Mount Lawley campus

The theme this year with will be Sustainable Technology and the Environment:

“Our global community develops and uses many technologies to meet our needs while at the same time changing our environment. An understanding of these technologies, their development and sustainability will be critical for our children as they prepare for living and working in modern society. It is our responsibility to provide opportunities to develop this understanding through ‘doing’ technology.”

There will be two major keynote speakers, Dr. Leo Elshof and Mr Michael Dixon.

More on the conference website.

VAQ welcomes new teachers to participate

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:52:24 +0900

We welcome all first time and experienced teachers to the Quest.

There are prizes for students and schools for first time teachers to encourage them to enter their students’ work. All students involved with the Quest receive a Certificate of Participation.

The Quest provides the opportunity for students to create technologies that solve problems and address real issues in a sustainable way when meetings needs. It is an innovative, authentic, relevant and practical way to stimulate students and for teachers to learn more about the Technology and Enterprise Learning Area.

We encourage teachers to participate in the Quest to further their knowledge of the T & E learning area. It is an excellent professional learning experience for teachers. To encourage first time entering teachers there are awards for the best in each general category. The Value Adding Quest competition attracts many students from Government, Catholic and Independent schools.

Teachers are required to submit their best entries from the students who have completed the work.

We are organising a Professional Development workshop in mid March with information to help teachers enter the competition. Stay tuned!

Term One 2008 Value Adding Quest Update

Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:54:47 +0900

There are going to be several major changes underway for the Value Adding Quest. The first being there will be no more brochures sent to schools, instead a large poster and small postcards with relevant information that will be posted. The second being a total revamp of the website where you will be able to access the brochure and obtain information about a variety of things including an upcoming PD.

The VAQ Management Committee appreciate all comments, suggestions, ideas as ultimately our aim is to see many more teachers involved in the VAQ and increase the number of students entering the Quest.

We had a great night on Thursday 18 th October 2007 at Churchlands SHS, the evening

of our Value Adding Quest Presentation night. One teacher e-mailed me saying it was the best awards ceremony so far (she has been entering the quest and attending the ceremonies for many years) That was lovely to hear!

Last year we celebrated 10 years of the competition being run. We also received news that we have been awarded another grant to run the competition for the next three years,

So we had plenty of reasons to celebrate. We even organised 2 lovely arrangements of helium balloons all in the various shades of the VAQ colours; yellow & green as backdrops for the stage.

The evening began with the display of students’ work in one of the classrooms. This year we made the decision to display both winning and non-winning student entries. The room was full with attractively presented and displayed student entries. There were many excited students showing their work off to family members and lots of photo opportunities. Guests had a chance to mingle and enjoy some light refreshments.

Before we knew it, everyone was ushered into the auditorium for the start of the awards ceremony.

Many thanks to Mr Carl Sanderson, who is the chairperson of the VAQ. He did a marvellous job as M.C. for the evening and was fantastic at interviewing the students about their innovative entries. Carl also put together an absolutely brilliant powerpoint presentation introducing each winner that contained all their information and a photograph of their entry.

We were very fortunate to have had three guest speakers on the evening. The first was Ms Juanita Healy, Manager of the Syllabus Development and Resources Directorate at the Department of Education and Training who spoke about Technology and Innovation in schools. The second was Mr Peter Viney, Deputy Director General, Office of Science, Technology & Innovation, who also attended last year and he spoke about Technology and Innovation in the Community. The last guest speaker was Professor Lyn Beazley, the Chief Scientist of WA also from the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Ms Beazley reports directly to the Premier Mr Alan Carpenter on all Science related matters. She was an excellent speaker who understandably has a real passion for Science! I have had numerous people saying how impressed they were, so much so, she has been asked to be guest speaker at a Year 7 Graduation ceremony.

The prizes were all handed out in all the categories including the newest sponsor to come on board; Western Potatoes Limited (WPL)

There were many happy faces all round with the student's’ achievements on the night.

Many, many thanks to all the Value Adding Quest management committee members who had lots of input into the evening and all their help before and on the night of the awards and of course throughout last year.

Included is a table that contains all the information about the winning students and schools. The general categories are VAQ funded prizes, whilst the Special Awards are from the respective sponsor in that category.

Have a great start to the year.

Maria Biscotto

…For further information about the Value Adding Quest …

You can contact your professional association representative on the VAQ committee.
BEWA - Mr Angelo Karsakis
ECAWA - Mr Paul Reid

Or contact the VAQ Project officer : Maria Biscotto
PO Box 1479
South Perth WA 6951
Telephone / Facsimile : (08) 9450 3157

2007 Value Adding Quest Award Winners

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:13:55 +0800

Churchlands SHS Judging Day results

Category Year 4 - 5
1 st
Room 14,15 &16 - Wembley PS
These classes investigated ways to make non-electrical games for children out of primary products. They came up with the fantastic idea of a go-cart, it was made using recycled materials, it was environmentally friendly, interactive and certainly lots of fun to make & enjoy !
2 nd
Michael Anderson
Woodvale PS
No Frills Health Bar, made on a basis of muesli, this bar is wheat and gluten free. A great healthy snack to enjoy!
3 rd
Mathew Sargeant
Woodvale PS
Mathew made a cleaning agent that is a natural product and uses the base ingredient of eucalyptus oil. The product is called ‘totaclean’.

Category Year 6 – 7
1 st
Lachlan Rosher
Woodvale PS
Lachlan’s idea is an organic garden fertilizer or mulch that is made from worm castings and blended paper mulch. It is then made into a convenient sized brick pellet.
2 nd
David Gioia
Mt Hawthorn PS
David did a lot of market research looking at different types of citrus squeezers that were on the market. After analysing them, he embarked on his own unique design for a citrus squeezer called ‘The Easy Squeeze Orange Juicer’.
3 rd
Ben Dutton
Mt Hawthorn PS
Ben has marketed a natural candle making kit. He has called his creation ‘Natural Sense’ . Inside there are all the materials required to make your own natural candles as well as a clearly written instruction sheet . Ben has also made his own instructional DVD!!!

Category Year 8 - 10
1 st
TAGS Group – year 10
Narrogin SHS
These talented group of students set up their own business and called it ‘Yik Yaks Stationery’. The main product they produced and marketed was an impressive handmade wooden pen and matching wooden pen holder.
2 nd
Melinda Hansen
Narrogin SHS
Melinda wanted to show off the wonderful types of wood found in the Narrogin region, so decided to make some great drinks coasters. A lot of thought went into the way she displayed her finished product.
3 rd
Serena Stevens & Stephanie McDonald
Narrogin SHS
These two students created an amazing piece of Art. It is an Aboriginal inspired work of Art hand painted on an exquisite piece of Jarrah.

Category Year 11 -12
1 st
Marc Silverthorne
Warnbro CHS
Marc made a great little table with a drawer. His practical work was excellent. The Portfolio containing all of his written work was outstanding.
2 nd
Michael Chan
Warnbro CHS
Michael made an eye-catching small table clock. The finished product looked fantastic. The written work in his portfolio was very good.
Year 11 -12
3 rd
Monique Lydiate
Narrogin SHS
Monique created and made a stunning dress which is made from waxed paper and between the sheets of waxed paper there is a fantastic array of dried flowers and leaves.

AEAWA Award
(Agriculture Educators Association of WA)
Isabella Kirkman
(Year 7)
Mt Hawthorn PS
Isabella has made some eye catching jewellery from an avocado stone. It is also very versatile as the pieces she has made can be worn as a necklace or as a bracelet. Her jewellery is called “Naturally Nature Jewellery”.

AEAWA Award
(Agriculture Educators Association of WA)
Lachlan Rosher (Year 6)
Woodvale PS
Lachlan’s idea is an organic garden fertiliser or mulch that is made from worm castings and blended paper pulp. It is then made into a convenient sized brick pellet.

ECAWA Award
(Education Computing Association of WA)
Frances Harvey & Maddison Calzada (Year 7)
Mt Hawthorn PS
Frances and Maddison decided to design and make a simple, interactive book for young children on primary products of Western Australia.

BEWA Award
(Business Educators Association of WA)
Thomas Meagher
(Year 7)
Mt Hawthorn PS
Thomas decided to make a craft manual with ten crafty ideas all made from recycled products. This would be a valuable addition in any household with children to keep them amused especially during the holidays.

BEWA
Award
(Business Educators Association of WA)
TAGS Group (Year 10)
Narrogin SHS
These talented group of students set up their own business and called it ‘Yik Yaks Stationery’. The main product they produced and marketed was an impressive handmade wooden pen and matching wooden pen holder.

DATTA Award
(Design & Technology Teachers Association)
Adrian McGrechan
Ballajura CC
Adrian made a great coffee table with a frosted glass top.

DATTA Award
(Design & Technology Teachers Association )
Michael Chan
Warnbro CHS
Michael made an eye-catching small table clock. The finished product looked fantastic. The written work in his portfolio was very good.

FIFWA
Year K – 10
(Forest Industries Federation of WA)
David Gioia (Year 7)
Mt Hawthorn PS
David did a lot of market research looking at different types of citrus squeezers that were on the market. After analysing them, he embarked on his own unique design for a citrus squeezer called ‘The Easy Squeeze Orange Juicer’.

FIFWA
Year 11 & 12
(Forest Industries Federation of WA)
Marc Silverthorne
Warnbro CHS
Marc made a great little table with a drawer. His practical work was excellent. The Portfolio containing all of his written work was outstanding.

HEIAWA
Primary Award
(Home Economics Institute of Australia (WA)
Benedek Stolze, Ryan Morgan and Jared Lovelock
Woodvale PS
This innovative group decided to make a totally edible cup to hold their healthy drinks in. Once they drank their delicious smoothies they could enjoy eating the cup!!

WPL
Primary Award
(Western Potatoes Limited)

Year 4 & 5
Room 29
Butler PS
These students focused on potatoes as their primary product. They learnt a lot about potatoes in the process and so did the rest of the school when they organised their Potato Day where there was taste testings of food, potato games and representatives of Western Potatoes including Bud the Spud, but the highlight was selling the cookbooks they had produced called “Kids in the Kitchen with Spuds” We believe they sold out in no time and are now producing their second edition!.

Certificate of Distinction
Year 4 & 5
Luke Walton & Samuel Fairs
Woodvale PS
These boys idea was to come up with a product that is able to easily remove stickers and is re-usable. They came up with the idea of a wedge like wooden shape.

Certificate of Distinction
Year 6 & 7
Oscar Hermoso
Mt Hawthorn PS
Oscar decided to create a new type of mulch. It is half made from newspaper and it will work just as well as any other mulch, if not better! It also contains soil wetter, manure and hay, making it perfect on any garden.

Certificate of Distinction
Year 6 & 7
Stevos Karpathakis & Joel Angert
St Andrew’s Grammar
Skevos and Joel decided to make a worm composter out of wood that would be straight forward to use and would be able to easily teach young children the importance and benefit to the environment and ones garden of having a worm compost.

Certificate of Distinction
Year 8 - 10
Sara Kain & Chantal Shipley
Narrogin SHS
These two students were kept very busy with their VAQ entry. Together they produced a set of four (4) stunning drinks coasters as well as an eye-catching photo frame.

Certificate of Distinction
Year 8 - 10
Liana Ottobrino & Stephanie Maioudakis
St Andrew’s Grammar
Liana and Stephanie looked at potatoes as their primary product. They concentrated very much on the marketing side of things.
They filmed an advertisement, and made their own CD covers as well as produce eye-catching posters.

Certificate of Distinction
Andrew Mc Roberts
Mt Hawthorn PS

Best Entry from a 1st time entering teacher
Year 4 & 5
Ms Kayla Mahon
Butler PS
The whole class focused on the primary product of potatoes and did a lot of work and organised many activities related to potatoes, including making a recipe book!

Best Entry from a 1st time entering teacher
Year 8 -10
Ms Brenda Mitchell
St Andrew’s Grammar
Ms Brenda Mitchell is the Head of Middle School at St Andrew’s in Dianella. Quite a few students under her guidance entered the VAQ this year for the first time. There was a great variety in the entries seen.

Best Entry from a 1st time entering teacher
Year 11 & 1 2
Mr Stephen Keeling
Warnbro Community High School
Mr Stephen Keeling is a Design & Technology Teacher at Warnbro CHS. This is the first Time he has entered the VAQ. His only two entries were students who ended up winning 2 prizes each, their work was of a very high standard.

Mount Hawthorn Primary School – Teacher’s story

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:49:56 +0900

Teacher’s story - Kayla Mahon

This was my first year with any experience with the VAQ competition and will now definitely not be my last! I joined the other teachers at Mount Hawthorn Primary School in helping all year 7 students in completing the tasks required for entering the competition in term 3 when I started my internship.

The presentation of the VAQ competition to the students by the other teachers was inspiring to the students. When I saw the ideas the students came up with I was amazed at how original and clever they were. We had concepts and ideas ranging from using malt to create a bedtime drink for children with insomnia, a contraption that makes balloon tying easy, an organic olive lip balm and a support that holds an ice pack onto your injured knee and the list goes on!

Each week, about two hours was set aside in class to work on VAQ. I would model just one way of how a task could be done that was related to the technology process and then the students would be given time to work on their own assignments at the stage they were up to. For example, one week I modelled how to write a professional letter to the students and they wrote one as an example to a movie star. The students chose what to work on for the rest of the lesson individually and this could vary between writing the letter, compiling a table for similar products on the market or perfecting the explanation of the overall idea. This structure worked very effectively for students and was a lesson in time management that would undoubtedly help them next year in high school. During these lessons, I scaffolded the students who required this by asking endless questions especially about how this product, concept or idea as going to impact people and the environment, helped them locate the information they required and I read drafts and offered feedback as to the areas they could improve.

Mount Hawthorn Primary School has always done very well in the VAQ competition and this year was no exception. Five certificates of high distinction were awarded to students who devised ideas such as a nit repelling headband and a completely interactive computer game in which the aim is to choose the correct healthy foods. In first place in the General Category, one of our students produced a Vicks Vapor Vest to wear when you have a cold and don’t want to put Vicks onto your skin and in second place one of our students created a toe cap for skateboarders to wear so their shoes are not ruined. In third place, another student made a playdough that is scented and was aimed at people with vision impairments. Two other students also received special awards for their ideas. One student had produced a line of dog fashions with an inbuilt natural flea repellent and won the Burnell’s Award for her sewing and the other won the Nutrition Award for her cookies that could be eaten by people with Diabetes and Coealiac’s Disease.

The awards night was a much anticipated event and the professional approach at the ceremony with an inclusion of so many students was commendable. Students, parents and teachers very much enjoyed the night as it gave us a chance to reflect on what we had completed and the students were rewarded for their efforts. One of the speakers this year, Louisa Wood, was highly motivational and a perfect example of what the Technology and Enterprise area encompasses.

This competition was as successful for our school as it was because of the passion the students had for completing the tasks for a project they enjoyed and with the help and patience of their parents and teachers. At the conclusion of the VAQ competition, the students felt a huge amount of satisfaction in seeing what they achieved and the majority answered that they would do it again and highlighted that their favourite aspects were that they were creating something that fulfilled a need, they were working on a project that was completely their own and they got to lots of new and different things. I also had several parents give me feedback on how they viewed the competition as highly beneficial to their children because they were completely engaged in a worthwhile project and that the practice in time management was extremely important for their years in high school and beyond.

The VAQ competition benefited the students, teachers and parents in so many different ways. As a whole, we came away from this competition with huge pride and a lot of knowledge about sustainability and the technology process.

By Kayla Mahon
Mount Hawthorn Primary School

2006 Value Adding Quest Award Winners

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:00:55 +0800

Download the PDF of the 2006 winners 2006_winners.pdf.