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HSC students receive a practical science boost

June 22, 2004

HSC-Booster-thumb.jpgAbout 350 science students from high schools throughout NSW are getting a boost to their Higher School Certificate studies this week. A three-day series of activities at the University of New England is giving them new insight into their HSC subjects as well as giving them a glimpse of university life.

UNE’s Faculty of The Sciences is staging its fifth annual “HSC Booster Activities” on June 21, 22 and 23. Year 12 students from 19 high schools in northern NSW (from Armidale, New England, and as far afield as Port Macquarie and Merriwa) are taking part in activities relating to their final-year studies in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and Geography. Titles of the activities include: “Electromagnetism and Relativity”, “Genetics and Gene Expression”, “Wildlife Adaptation to Australian Conditions”, “Infectious Diseases and Human Health”, and “Chemical Aspects of Water Analysis”.

Wendy Hyde, Faculty Manager in the Faculty of The Sciences, is the coordinator of the “Booster Activities”. She said the activities gave the students the experience of working towards their HSC in a university environment. “We hope the experience helps them to realise that going on to study science at university would not only be possible for them, but also exciting and enjoyable,” she explained.

Will Morgan, one of a contingent of 14 students from Mackillop Senior College in Port Macquarie, emphasised the direct, practical nature of the help provided by UNE staff during the activities. In addition, staying at one of the University’s residential colleges had given him an insight into the social side of university life, he said.

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s annual Nyholm Youth Lecture (on Tuesday 22 June), for Year 10, 11 and 12 students, forms part of the “Booster Activities” program. In his lecture titled “Green Chemistry: Not Different, Just Smarter”, Dr Jason Harper from the University of NSW describes current efforts to make chemical processes more environmentally friendly.

Media contact: Wendy Hyde, Faculty Manager, Faculty of The Sciences, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 2662 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3049.

Photographs are available at:
http://smithserver.une.edu.au/photography/media/booster04

Posted by Lydia Roberts at June 22, 2004 09:51 AM