From push up techniques to jumping dynamics- students at A.B. Paterson College experienced STEM in action with a hands-on biomechanics workshop led by renowned educator and researcher, Dr. John Drazan.

Principal, Joanne Sheehy and Year 12 student, Amelia Wolff joined the journey through motion, physics, and performance, showing just how powerful the link between science and sport can be!

Please watch the video below!

College Principal, Joanne Sheehy: At A.B. Paterson College, we are in a really fortunate position where we are very much leaders in the educational space. We are trying to partner with industry experts and so that is becoming very known globally, and so when the US consulate rings up and says we have this amazing expert biomechanics and he wants to come and work with our students, we have that opportunity. On Monday morning we had a workshop for a few hours with a number of students who wanted to partake in it, in order to improve their performance.

Biomechanics & STEM Education Researcher, Dr John Drazan: I am the Assistant Director of Biomedical Engineering from Fairfield University in Connecticut, in the good old USA. I am travelling in Australia for about two weeks with one of my stops being the Gold Coast, to engage kids in maths and science learning through sports performance training. I mean, number one, science is awesome, engineering is awesome. I get to do a lot of work with high level athletes, professional sports organisations and I certainly don’t do it because I am the best basketball player in the world, and I don’t do it because I am the best scientist and engineer in the world, I am able to do it because, I am able to blend these two domains in like a really great manner. It is all about having it so that young athletes across the world feel like there is a space for them in STEM.

Year 12 Student, Amelia Wolff: I just did trials in heaps of different things: a vertical jump test, land agility, toe tapping, all different things, and experimenting with that and how you can involve science and STEAM into sport.