Discoveries

The UNE Discovery team would like to say a great big thanks for sticking with another challenging year of uncertainty, steep learning curves about lockdowns, travel and virus transmission, and the enduring human spirit of curiosity....

I visited a local school the other day and had an adventure! Through the classroom window we spied a swarm of bees and gingerly made our way outside to wonder at their activity. The busy bees were boldly making a nest just metres from where...

We had a bumper crop of strawberries this season. Our small patch of herbs and strawberries has suffered in previous years and not being the green thumb family, we don’t tend to give them much love and attention.  This year, though, left to their own...

You may have noticed at your feet, as you trudged through sandy moist ground, small flower like plants glistening in the sunlight, with what look like dew drops on their tiny rounded leaves. They are carnivorous plants in the genus Drosera; a large and diverse...

Have you heard about nature journalling? My daughter and I recently discovered this lovely practice of wandering out in nature and taking notes and making sketches of the things we see. For us, this was something that we could do in our backyard...

In our UNE Discovery Voyager activity Plants, Poop and Pollinators, we play a role-playing game where students become busy dung beetles, rolling away balls of manure and ‘burying’ them in their underground dung beetle nests. The dung beetles (students) must roll away as many balls...

For many people, 3D printing is a fantastic, almost science fiction type of futuristic technology hidden out of reach in engineering labs and TV prop studios. But what if it wasn’t? What if it was available to you, right now? 3D printing is becoming increasingly...

Many people would have seen a case moth case at some time or another, but fewer people may know what they actually are. So, before we look at the exact species I have (and how I found that out), let’s have a look at case...

Hey, eucalyptus tree, how did you get to be mottled and patchy? Our Voyager team member, Anita, has cooked up a recipe to make your lockdown (or any time!) neighbourhood walks a little more curious and creative. Are you up for the photographic curious-questioning challenge?...

With the ongoing COVID-19 situation, we are limiting our travel around northern NSW to ensure the safety of staff, teachers and students. But this does not mean that students need to miss out on a Voyager experience! With some ingenuity and the right props, we...