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NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK: Students find Science alive in the Bush

August 18, 2005

SmithChloe.thumb.jpgA day of scientific adventure at The University of New England has enabled more than 320 regional high-school students to study their natural environment both in close-up detail and from the perspective of space.

UNE scientists led the students on many journeys of discovery yesterday, including guided observation of bush and wetlands, and the investigation of landscape images taken from space.

Students in Years 7-10 from schools in Armidale, Uralla, Walcha, Inverell and Dorrigo took part in UNE’s third annual “Science in the Bush” event. They plunged into a wide range of activities, including programming a robot, making a freezer alarm, doing chemistry experiments, and testing the quality of hens’ eggs.

The event takes students into a real, cutting-edge research environment in their own region and gives them an insight into the vitality of science and the variety of scientific careers. UNE’s Dr Chris Fellows, the coordinator of the day, said the students went away “understanding that science is not something done by unapproachable ‘boffins’ in distant cities, but an important part of real life here in New England”.

As this year’s “Science in the Bush” was held during National Science Week, it coincided with a special event at UNE to celebrate the Einstein International Year of Physics. Dr Elisabetta Barberio, a physicist from the University of Melbourne, presented a public lecture at the University yesterday evening on the meaning and impact of Einstein’s revolutionary insight linking energy and matter. During the day, Dr Barberio inspired the visiting students with a talk on the same subject.

Simon Walsh, from the University of Technology, Sydney, also talked to them, discussing careers in science. He focused particularly on forensic science as just one example of the fascinating career paths open to science graduates, describing how forensic scientists go about analysing evidence from the scene of a crime.

Another important National Science Week event occurring on the same day as “Science in the Bush” was the official launch of a new computer game called “Weed Wipeout”. This interactive game, designed to raise awareness of weed management and aimed particularly at school students, was developed by Susanna Greig, the Educational Officer for the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Australian Weed Management, who is based at UNE. After the launch, some of the visiting students sat down to play the game, giving it their enthusiastic approval.

Contributors to the “Science in the Bush” program, hosted by UNE, included UNE itself, the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, the Australian Poultry CRC, the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC, the CRC for Australian Weed Management, and the University of Technology, Sydney.


The photograph displayed here shows Chloe Smith, from Uralla Central School, making discoveries about cotton growing.

Media contact: Dr Chris Fellows, School of Biological, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, UNE (02) 6773 2470 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at August 18, 2005 01:44 PM