30 Jul The Science Experience in July
In July this year, UNE Discovery hosted a Winter version of “The Science Experience”. This event is a regular on the UNE calendar with students in Years 9 and 10 joining us on campus for a 3-day science camp. The change to the July school holidays, instead of January, meant our student visitors could enjoy the brisk Armidale air and wake up to a white frosty morning instead of the balmy weather of an Armidale Summer. We know our attendees from Byron Bay were excited to have a play in the frost!
The students stayed at Austin Page College and were introduced to life on campus. They were thrilled to be invited to watch the college students while they rehearsed for their musical ‘Mama Mia”. This was our first year staying at Austin Page and the students loved it.
A huge thanks to all our UNE academics, facilitators and technical staff who delivered some interesting and entertaining hands-on activities covering many different disciplines of science. The students thoroughly enjoyed our mix of theory and practical activities. On day one, the students covered physics with Dr Steve, weighed sheep and assessed pasture with Justin and Lu, and enjoyed geology with Dr Nick. The following days were filled with blood experiments with Prof Ketheesan, food nutrition and microbiology with Dr Gal and her “Fork to Poo” activity, forensic science and chemistry escape room challenge with Dr Adam and his team, a fun coding activity with Dr Will. The final day saw the students gain insight into sports science with Dr Sam as well as neuroscience with Dr Adam and his ‘Amazing Brain’ activity.
The students also enjoyed a night of spotlighting with Dr Geoff out at Dumaresq Dam Conservation Area which finished with a dinner BBQ in the picnic area.
On the final day, we were fortunate to have Dr Sonja from the CSIRO and Dr Peter from the Nationals Parks & Wildlife Service as well as Dr Will from UNE, impart knowledge and stories about their careers and how they navigated their studies and working lives.
Please check the National Science Week website for additional resources prepared for this year’s celebration of science and technology. We look forward to seeing you all in August 2025 for more science engagement activities during National Science Week.
The students were kept busy, they slept well, ate well and were certainly very happy and appreciative of all involved in organising and facilitating such an opportunity. Please keep an eye out in 2025 for another July version of “The Science Experience” – we here at UNE Discovery are already excited to see what will be on offer!