By Dr Jean Holley, UNE Discovery Voyager

We are excited to announce that we have added another activity, H₂Woah, to our UNE Discovery Voyager offerings for 2021! In this activity, we explore how we can adapt to a future of more intense weather events, more uncertainty in rainfall, and more prolonged droughts, while acknowledging the incredible power of water that we see during periods of flooding.

We are excited to announce that we have added another activity, H₂Woah, to our UNE Discovery Voyager offerings for 2021! In this activity, we explore how we can adapt to a future of more intense weather events, more uncertainty in rainfall, and more prolonged droughts, while acknowledging the incredible power of water that we see during periods of flooding.

Over the coming decades, it is projected that Australia will experience continued warming, with more extremely hot days, and a reduction in cool season rainfall across many regions in the south and east, which may lead to more time spent in drought. Modelling also projects that we will experience more intense short-duration heavy rainfall events (you can read more about climate projections at the Bureau of Meteorology). So, although we may see more intense flooding, we need to be planning for the prospect of reduced rainfall, and periods of reduced water supplies.

Our H₂Woah activity gives the power to students, as we investigate how much water we use in our everyday lives, how much we should be using, and how we can reduce our usage to better support our environment and save for the future. Utilising hundreds of foam blocks of all shapes and sizes to represent the precious resource, we tap into our inner mathematician to highlight the importance of turning the tap off where we can, and making conscious efforts to minimise water waste at home, school and throughout our community. Students are challenged with concepts such as volume and scale with real world applications, and collaborate with their peers to decide how they can use water to make a difference!

H₂Woah is now available to book – simply indicate your preference on your booking form when you make your activity selections. If you have already chosen your activities for your 2021 visit, but would like to swap an activity for H₂Woah, please get in touch and we can adjust your booking accordingly.