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School students enrol for scientific adventure

January 05, 2005

WelsmanGlover.thum.jpgThe University of New England is preparing to guide dozens of high-school students through an experience of scientific discovery later this month.

The annual Siemens Science Experience gives students entering Year 10 a taste of the excitement and significance of science at university level. Dr Jim McFarlane, the director of the Siemens Science Experience program at UNE, said students from 25 towns and cities had already booked for the three-day event.

“They’re coming from schools throughout northern NSW, and from as far west as Dubbo,” Dr McFarlane said. “We already have about 50 confirmed participants, and could accommodate another 40 or so.” (The Web site for the Siemens Science Experience, including an enrolment form, is at: http://www.scienceexperience.com.au.)

The students will engage in a wide range of hands-on activities over the three days from Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 January. These activities will include programming robots to play football, extracting DNA from biological material, learning techniques of plant tissue culture, exploring the effects of fire on plants, and monitoring aspects of human physiology.

As well as the hands-on activities, there will be a series of half-hour talks by some of UNE’s most distinguished scientists. Subjects will range from the basic chemistry of life to the biology and behaviour of birds.

“Interest in science among school students has been declining over the past couple of decades,” Dr McFarlane said. “This is despite the ever-broadening range of career paths open to science graduates. The Siemens Science Experience is a national program designed to address this anomaly by introducing students to the thrill of scientific discovery and the possibilities of scientific careers. The aim of the Experience is to show young people that science can be just as exciting as trading shares on the stock market.”

“Students attending the UNE event this year,” he continued, “will be coming from a wide range of places, including Singleton, Inverell, Armidale, Gunnedah, Yamba, Warialda, Ashford, Dorrigo, Narrabri, Glen Innes, Scone, Walcha and Tamworth. Some of those from more distant schools will have a taste of living on campus by spending the two nights at Austin College, one of UNE’s student residences. They will be able to unwind in the evening, after an exciting day of science and seminars, with fun and games at Sport UNE.”

UNE has staged the Siemens Science Experience every year for more than a decade. (The photograph here shows UNE's Associate Professor Stephen Glover in the Chemistry laboratory with students Paul and Dain Welsman during last year's event.) Rotary is among the sponsors of the event, along with Siemens Ltd and the University itself.

For more information on the Siemens Science Experience at UNE contact Dr Jim McFarlane on (02) 6773 3201 or e-mail: jmcfarla@une.edu.au.


Media contact: Dr Jim McFarlane, School of Biological, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, UNE (02) 6773 3201, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at January 5, 2005 04:54 PM