A small group of Year 7 and 8 students is looking at the Royal Botanic Gardens from a different perspective, asking how a visit could become more interactive, engaging, and educational.
The students, who are members of Melbourne Grammar School’s Social Entrepreneurship Club, are independently developing a concept for a digital experience that will encourage visitors to explore the Gardens while learning more about their surroundings.
The concept is simple. Visitors would scan a QR code at the entrance to begin a 60 to 90-minute interactive experience, with activities guiding them to different locations throughout the Gardens. Rather than simply walking from one destination to the next, participants would be encouraged to stop, look closely, and engage with their environment.
Social Entrepreneurship Club teacher Matthew Houniet said the field research has an important part of developing the idea.
“We’re doing research, problem-solving, and critiquing it,” he said.
At Melbourne Grammar, students are encouraged to take their learning beyond the classroom and engage with the wider world in a practical way.
In this project, as the students develop and test their concept, they are thinking deeply about the challenges involved, remaining curious about what they discover and considering perspectives of the people who may one day use the experience.
The project has evolved from an earlier trial last year, and the students are now developing a larger bank of tailored questions, with individual visitors receiving a varied selection of activities to encourage exploration.
“One of the biggest challenges is diversification, as people come to the Gardens often, so we want to have different questions and a different experience each time they arrive,” Year 8 student Krish said.
The project has also provided opportunities for the students to develop their technical skills. Some members of the group are focused on the technology behind the experience, while others are considering how to make it engaging and enjoyable for users.
“We also want the app to be interesting, which will be a technical challenge for us,” Krish said.
The group will continue refining their concept before representing Melbourne Grammar at the Entrepreneurial Interschool Competition in November, where they will pitch their business idea to a panel of entrepreneurs.
For Mr Houniet, the project is as much about developing the students’ confidence to explore what is possible as it is about the final pitch.
“You just need to take the blinkers off these boys and let them know what’s possible,” he said.
