Recipients 2018–2019

  • Aerospace STEM Innovation: empowering regional communities

    Bundaberg Regional Council

    $10,000

    Bundaberg Regional Council will engage the whole community in rocket science by using a hands-on approach with qualified, knowledgeable and enthusiastic activity facilitators. Ages 2 to 102 will have the chance to discover a new scientific interest and interact with a form of science most don't consider to be within their reach. Aerospace Science will engage a wide variety of demographics, and with local links to legend Bert Hinkler it is a perfect opportunity for this regional community to connect with and participate in sensational science.

  • Creating Tomorrow's Scientists Today

    Pittsworth State High School

    $10,000

    This project will expose rural students to positive STEM experiences that engage and inspire STEM learning.  The program will broaden student awareness of career possibilities in STEM, and their potential to be a part of future change through STEM exploration.

    Students will access science technologies to assist in classroom collaboration and learning strategies.  The aim is to inspire the next generation of young scientists by enhancing student strengths in creative thinking and completing projects in small group settings.

  • Advanced Stem Immersion for Girls

    Sunshine Beach State High School

    $10,000

    In partnership with Noosa Council and the Peregian Digital Hub, the school would like to offer female students the opportunity to do short courses in a variety of STEM fields. The courses will be delivered by female leaders in their respective fields. Proposed courses include a machine learning artificial intelligence program and a bioengineering program.

    The objectives of the initiative are to; contextualise opportunities for female students in STEM industries and provide to students authentic learning opportunities with leading female scientists.

  • Mutdapilly Koala Offset, School Based Citizen Scientist Project

    Goodna State Primary School

    $9,786

    Remote cameras will be used to gather data on animal movements from the 90 hectare Mutdapilly Koala Offset site west of Ipswich with a view to staging a new event: a school based citizen scientist project day at the Goodna State School.    The aims are to foster environmental awareness in a community that has emerging understandings of sustainability and to promote STEM awareness in the broader Queensland community. The Mutdapilly offset is a unique project and the school's STEM program has handwritten endorsements from environmentalists Sir David Attenborough and Dr Bob Brown, and the CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

  • STEAM TEAM Challenge 2019

    Springfield Central State High School

    $10,000

    Springfield Central will build on engagement in their extra-curricular STEAM Club to deliver an innovative student parent team robotics program.

    Their students will lead and collaborate with primary student-parent teams from feeder schools, to develop autonomous robotic solutions to identified real-world challenges. Across 2019, teachers and visiting experts will deliver engagement activities and support for team design challenges. The initiative will give Year 6 students and parents greater insight into the secondary STEM curriculum, while enhancing STEM leadership experiences for participating secondary students. Teams will have the option to enter the First Lego League in 2019, to extend the engineering experience.

  • Drone Coding Workshops in the Western Downs

    Western Downs Regional Council

    $9,960

    Intergenerational workshops will help participants learn about and code a drone using block based programming to perform a mock search and rescue mission. The target audience will be adult-child partners working together to accomplish the mission of coding a drone for search and rescue.

    Children aged 10 plus are the ideal target audience. The workshops will take place at the regional libraries and will be facilitated by STEMPunks. The program incorporates sustainability as learnings taken from these workshops will then be used to develop in-house drone-based coding lessons for the region.

  • Augmented Reality experiences for engaging and educating schools on mosquitoes

    Queensland University of Technology

    $10,000

    This project involves the collaborative design of an interactive, augmented reality (AR) classroom experience for school students to visualise urban mosquito breeding. Engagement with students includes: interacting with the custom AR app e.g. viewing virtual mosquitoes in class, creating paper creatures and mosquito habitats in a simulated, understanding tracking and eradication of mosquitoes at home, showcasing the student's work and app. This project will engage students in science, the environment and digital technologies. Why mosquitoes? Invasive urban mosquito species occur in Queensland and can carry exotic diseases (e.g. Zika and Dengue viruses). By acting together the university aims to empower children to help reduce risks to family and the community.

  • Moon Mission: Celebrating 50 Years of Aerospace and Beyond

    It's Rocket Science Adventures

    $10,000

    Discover the curious fun of rockets and aerospace science to celebrate 50 years since the first moon landing with a free family fun day for the wider Rockhampton region.

    Action-packed aerospace STEM innovation workshops will provide a hands-on experience with large scale model rockets. Attendees will experience firsthand the thrill of engineering and launching their very own bottle rocket to altitudes over 60 metres high. In partnership with Rockhampton Regional Council, It's Rocket Science Adventures will inspire all ages and abilities to start thinking about aerospace science and tech achievements possible in the 21st century or simply spark attendees science curiosity by tinkering with rockets.

  • The Inventor Project

    Noosa Shire Council

    $9,100

    The Inventor Project will encourage the community to participate in STEM-related learning through a series of world-class STEM-extension programs centred on 3D design and First Person View (FPV) racing drones.

    The project increases community engagement and participation through hands-on inspirational experiences using emerging technologies.  Aspiring inventors will be introduced to key 3D computer science and engineering fundamentals as they learn how to design, model and manufacture objects from concept to print and through the design, build and racing of FPV drones.

  • Ground Truth Educational Resources: Workshop and Video

    StarSapphire Productions Pty Ltd

    $10,000

    Resources will be produced to expand the reach and scope of STEM by providing curriculum-aligned teaching aids for teachers in the classroom and for workshops taking place in a dedicated Ground Truth educational space at QUT to inspire students through hands-on learning. Designed to increase a positive perception of maths and science, these resources offer students an opportunity to extend their STEM skills by engaging with spatial data visualisation. An aspirational video will feature remote-sensing scientists and spatial technologists at work, highlighting the importance of spatial information thinking by showing what remote-sensing is, why spatial sciences are important and its many applications.

  • Girls who STEAM

    Gold Coast City Council

    $9,200

    Continuing on from the success of the 2018 Girls who STEAM initiative, this year's program will include a new series of dedicated workshops, facilitated by female scientists and experts. The aim of the workshops is to inspire and support young girls to pursue their interest in the sciences and develop the skills and knowledge required for future careers in the STEM industry. Library staff will also be involve in the STEM programming workshops so they can continue to support lifelong learning and the government's commitment to increasing participation of women and girls in STEM studies and careers.

  • Think Digital in Isaac Libraries for Science Week

    Isaac Regional Council

    $10,000

    There will soon be a shift in the way we consume and create content, from 2D (books, screens, TVs) to 3D (content will surround us) such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

    Sessions provided to school classes and the general public, during theThink Digital in Isaac Libraries for Science Week, will build the skills and confidence of students, teachers, librarians and the public to adopt these exciting new technologies into their classroom, library and lives, through hands-on experiences.

  • Citizen science event to discover the fossils of the caves region

    Capricorn Caves - The Trustee for Estate of Ann Augusteyn

    $9,966

    Capricorn Caves is the coastal gateway to Queensland's 'Dig the Tropic' geo-heritage tourist trail. Its nationally significant caves and fossils record the prehistory of tropical Australia, including new species to science and extinct megafauna. Scientists from around Australia have studied the unique fossils and created a palaeotourism science program that engages and increases awareness of the science taking place in Australian caves. The public will be invited to a free fossil open day where they will become citizen scientists and literally get their hands dirty as they experience the excitement of scientific discovery and contribute to Australias vast natural heritage.

  • Welcome to the Whales

    Moreton Bay Region Industry and Tourism Limited

    $10,000

    Welcome to the Whales is a fun and informative event for families and tourists that includes activities, entertainment and workshops about preserving Moreton Bay Marine Parks, ecology and biodiversity. Event partners Coastal Protection Core and Australian Coastal and Marine Ecology will participate in a Q&A panel and provide talks on the event's main stage. The aim of the event is to raise community awareness of the initiatives. The event is 100% plastic-free, encouraging patrons to consider the impact plastic waste has on the environment.

  • The BioDiscovery project

    Woodfordia

    $10,000

    The BioDiscovery project aims to provide community science engagement  to discover biodiversity conservation sciences in the field and other sciences in the DiscoveryLab venue. Several scientists will engage participants of all ages and backgrounds, using  techniques and equipment to collect, observe, identify and record discoveries. The citizen-science app QuestaGame will be used to document and map out sightings.

    The BioDiscovery event is hosted during Woodfordia's Artisan Camp and The Planting Festival to increase awareness in environmental sciences including ecology, conservation, biology and taxonomy through entertaining and educational science presentations, displays, demonstrations and workshops.