St Patrick’s Technical College P-TECH Australia partner PMB Defence stopped by the school today to help students learn more about lead-acid batteries.
The College’s Year 11 Electrotechnology class have been learning about lead-acid battery cells and how they charge and discharge. The class have been learning the theory aspects of batteries and voltage before heading to the workshop and making their own battery management systems.
StPatsTech STEM coordinator Brad Sheridan said PMB Defence’s mentoring and support gives students a much better understanding of how industry works.
“To have the engineers of the Collins-class Submarine batteries here in our classroom, sharing their knowledge and time with our young Electrotechnology students is invaluable,’’ Mr Sheridan said.
“We greatly appreciate PMB Defence’s contribution to our P-TECH Australia program, which directly connects industry and students through special projects and mentoring. Our students will return the visit soon, with a field trip to PMB Defence’s Osborne facility.’’
Mr Sheridan said establishing strong links directly with industry was a cornerstone of StPatsTech’s successful school-based apprenticeship and traineeship program.
“Today’s young person will use more STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills through their working life than previous generations. So bringing industry into the classroom to demonstrate what skills and knowledge they value can help our students hone in on their career path.’’
StPatsTech also runs P-TECH Australia programs in Engineering and Information Technology.
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Pictured: Peter Branson, Project Engineer with PMB Defence, and Year 11 Electrotechnology student Kai, working through lead-acid battery theory.