2018 National Science Week

This year we travelled to Longreach to encourage Queenslanders to get involved in science to celebrate National Science Week.

National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology where thousands of individuals—from students to scientists to chefs and musicians–take part in more than 2000 science events across the nation.

Officially taking place from 11–19 August 2018, this year’s school theme is ‘Game changers and change makers’.

    STEM Pop-up in Longreach

    drone and dinosaur

    We visited Longreach on Monday 13 and 14 August to inspire the community with science and technology.

    More than 500 students from prep to year 12 participation in the Regional STEM Pop-up.

    Students from 14 schools, some travelling up to four hours, participated in coding and robotics, entrepreneurship and drone training.

    As well as training, there was informative and entertaining sessions including:

    • Corals in the Outback—a virtual reality experience that will connect children with the reef plus presentations and displays to show them what they can do to help save reefs from afar
    • In the shadows of our prehistoric past—an interactive, story-telling workshop where dinosaurs and fossils meet music and theatre.

    Venues right across Longreach were fully booked for the Regional STEM Pop-up including the Council Library, Civic Centre and Qantas Founders Museum. Three Longreach-based schools and the Pastoral College also provided classrooms for students. In total, 11 different training or activity sessions were held on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 August for 26 groups of students across seven venues.

    A community event titled ‘From dinosaurs to drones’ was held at the Qantas Founders Museum. More than 120 people attended the two-hour event to hear about STEM careers from a panel of young professionals:

    • a palaeontologist who works with dinosaurs, crocodiles and fish fossils
    • a medical researcher looking at the genetics of melanoma
    • a marine scientist who brings local communities together to gather data for marine research projects
    • an aviator who is training to be a jet fighter pilot.

    A to Z of Queensland science

    From Arthritis to Zika virus research, we highlighted the breadth of science in Queensland throughout August with our A-Z feature across our social media channels.

    Scientists visit schools

    The Queensland Chief Scientist facilitated visits by scientists to a number of schools across the state during National Science Week.

    Scientists discussed science careers, the impact of science, benefits of studying science and everything from space to technology and medical research.