Leading student change makers are displaying their innovation from over 400 schools in NSW. As part of the ‘Game Changer Challenge’, groups of students collaborated across both primary and secondary schools to solve the complex problems in our society and environment today. The Game Changer Challenge is a state-wide competition run by NSW Education and powered by UNICEF Australia, where students innovate together to create solutions for the future of our nation.
This year’s theme was “Make life better for all without harming the planet”. Students were challenged to design a solution that will shape a “future where everyone, no matter where they live, can access benefit from modern, sustainable, and resilient technologies and infrastructures” (Excerpt from NSW Education).
These challenges aren’t just simple problems, they’re complex social and cultural issues we are facing as a nation, connecting to environmental sustainability, technology, policy, and social norms. As students step up to the plate to innovate and create, the submissions are judged through virtual semifinals, and progress to grand finals. Grand finalists fly out to Parramatta from across the state to present their ‘sales-pitch’ to industry leaders in technology and sustainability and collaborate together.
Of the 20 grand finalist schools heading to Parramatta in November, here are some outstanding ideas from students:
Bowral High School students designed a mobile app that aims to safeguard and educate people about the ongoing risks of a group of thousands of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which don’t naturally break down, and accumulate in the environment and humans. A topical and important invention.
At Bonnet Bay Public School, primary student innovators created a ‘fungus compost bin’ that biodegrades fabrics that would otherwise take many more years in the natural environment. These fungi are an active agent in the degradation process. An accessible and environmentally caring solution.
Branching away from topics of environmental waste and degradation, leaders at Armidale Secondary College designed an ‘Online Emergency Room’ for rural patients. For some remote Australian communities, the nearest hospital is an eight-hour drive away, and immediate care in not guaranteed. These students invented this telehealth system to provide instant access to medical advice before taking the extensive drive to emergency service.
Well done to the leading students who entered in this change making competition. All the best to the grand finalists who are heading to Parramatta in November.
For more information, find details of the official challenge website here: https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/schooling-initiatives/game-changer-challenge/2024-game-changer-challenge
