PRESENTATION Secondary School Tralee was a hive of activity on Friday morning as they welcomed both older members of the local community for an information event and a film crew to showcase the work being done by the Microsoft Dream Space Ambassadors.
The Dream Space programme at Microsoft Ireland provides immersive, research-based STEM experiences for students, teachers and communities to enhance their STEM skills alongside crucial social-emotional skills such as empathy, creativity, ethical decision making and collaboration.
As part of this program, Dream Space Ambassadors become Dream Space Specialists, offering assistance to fellow students and educators in the form of demos, training, leading small groups, or one-on-one sessions.
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“We were accepted into the programme for this year, 2023/24 and we’re delighted to be taking part,” said teacher Laura Boyle, who along with Sheila O’Connell, are co-ordinating the programme in the school with ten Transition Year students.
“They needed to show student leadership and the desire to promote Microsoft and the programmes they were learning about. The students were nervous at the start, because they thought they didn’t have the coding experience necessary, but they soon realised it was more about learning from Microsoft and them passing on their knowledge to other year groups in the school,” added Laura.
As well as teaching their skills to fellow students, on Friday, the Dream Space Ambassadors held an informal coffee morning – ‘Tea and Tech’ for older, wise learners in the local community who wanted to know more about Cyber Security
Around 17 members of the community learnt more about and how to spot fraudulent phone calls, text messages and emails, thanks to the students.
Neeve Hyland, one of the teachers on the Dream Space Team with Microsoft Ireland, explained why they came to the school on Friday morning with their cameras.
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“We’re capturing all the amazing work the Dream Space Ambassadors are doing here in Presentation and we’re blown away by the work that they have put in, helping to spread STEM education as part of their school community.”
The Microsoft film will create a video to showcase all the work being done by students and it will be shown to other schools in about a month to encourage them to get involved in the programme. Scroll down for photos…
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