Wonder of Science Wins WiT Award for Raising the Regions

The Wonder of Science Team (AleX, Kaylene and LEnore) - Women in Technology 2023 raising the regions Award Winners.

We are incredibly honoured and proud to announce that the Wonder of Science team (Alexandra McKelvey (nee Hall), Lenore Irvine and Kaylene Cooper) has won the Women in Technology 2023 Raising the Regions Award.

Thank you to Women in Technology for your encouragement and for recognising us today. This is an incredible achievement for our team and we are so excited.

Our team was honoured to be finalists in three categories having also been finalists in the Lifitng Communities and Excellence in STEM Education and Research categories as well.

Thank you to our supporters, university partners, industry partners, inspiring Young Science Ambassadors, Flying Scientists, staff, teachers, parents and students who make all of it possible!

Congratulations to all of the finalists, winners and highly commended. It was WONDER-full to see the incredible work that women are achieving in STEM fields all over the state.

Wonder of Science is actively raising the regions and supporting STEM, and women and girls in STEM, across Queensland:

• We are a future-focused initiative fostering a STEM culture that empowers students via access to high-quality, evidence-based STEM education. We are inspiring excellence by coordinating over 140 Young Science Ambassadors, who are PhD students in STEM fields, to visit Year 4 – 9 students across Queensland as part of our Challenge Task program. Students then participate in a term-long research task. Representative teams are invited to attend a Regional Conference with winners attending State Conference in Brisbane. We also provide teachers with curriculum resources as well as professional learning options

• We have reached over 100,000 people since 2012.

• In 2022, 74% of schools participating in Wonder of Science were in rural and remote communities and 62% of schools were below the average socio-education advantage (ICSEA) ranking.

• Our core program is a term-long. Many schools participate for multiple years and it often becomes an integral part of the schools’ STEM teaching and learning.

• We have worked in regional areas across the state including Cairns, Innisfail, Mossman, Weipa, Mackay, Charleville, Chinchilla, Bowen Basin, Emerald, Darling Downs, Gladstone, Gladstone, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, North Burnette, Goodwindi and Cooktown.

• We are raising the regions through our Flying Scientists program which is actively promoting women in STEM at community events across Rural and Regional Queensland. The Flying Scientists program, run in partnership with the Queensland Government, Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist, sees STEM researchers travel into regional Queensland centres to engage in STEM community events and to visit schools in the region to share their inspiring STEM stories.

• In 2023 over 77% of our Young Science Ambassadors are women. In 2023, 8 of our 9 major Flying Scientists events showcased women in STEM.

• We provide an effective, high-quality STEM education program across rural and regional Queensland.

• Between 60% and 80% of Regional and State Conference winners each year are female.

• Since 2020 we have also facilitated a girls in STEM mentoring program in partnership with Foxwell State College, where up to 20 Year 7 students each year receive one-on-one mentoring from a female Young Science Ambassador and complete a STEM inquiry project of their choosing over the course of a term.

• 99% of students and 100% of teachers who attended the 2022 State Conference agree that they would recommend Wonder of Science to others.

Thank you also to the representatives of our partners who joined us on the night and to all of our patterns (who are listed on the website)!

We hope to continue #rasingtheregions for years to come!

Sharing our YSAs’ stories

In celebration of reaching over 100,000 people since 2012, we are sharing some of our Young Science Ambassadors’ favourite moments in the program. Here are three stories written by Young Science Ambassadors about their Wonder of Science adventures! We hope you enjoy them!

David Sutton – Queensland University of Technology

A YSA since 2018, David has travelled across the state for Wonder of Science and is among our most active ambassadors. David is an experimental laser physicist researching micro-scale 3D printing of metals through light-driven chemical reactions:

David SUTTON was also the RECIPIENT OF THE GORDON DUNLOP MEDAL (CLICK HERE FOR THAT STORY)

“In 2021 I had the opportunity to visit Year 11 and 12 students in Cairns considering their path following school and into university. I was asked a question about Aerospace Engineering which is outside my field, but through working with fellow YSAs from the UQ Hypersonics group in the past, I was able to direct this student to look at UQ if she was interested in pursuing it further and she said she had no idea she could do it in Queensland. It was wonderful knowing that she had a new idea about what she could be after school just by being able to ask a fairly simple question.

When visiting students in different regions it’s always amazing to see the skills that some of these students possess that are well outside what you might expect for school students. Many Year 6 students have welded their own seismographs together in the Darling Downs for example, and students in and around Brisbane have created entire 3D modelled projects that show how a sustainable village might operate in the future to help deal with the realities of climate change.”

Tatiana Briody – The University of Queensland

A YSA since 2022, Tatiana is a PhD candidate with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland and investigates the benefits of gene editing in improving resilience to infection in cattle. Here she speaks about her favourite WoS moments, including conferences and developing a lab tour for our Gen-STEM mentoring program:

TATIANA FACILITATING THE GEN-STEM LAB TOUR AT UQ - Find out more about Mentoring Programs HERE

“Gladstone Young Science Ambassador Trip – I got the opportunity to fly to Gladstone with the Wonder of Science program as part of one of the first visits to the region since the pandemic. Many teachers were away sick, and those that were left had twice as many students to teach; and yet, they made us feel welcome and prioritised the YSA visit, ensuring all the students were able to engage with the lesson and meet us. It left me with a feeling of gratitude for our teachers and pride in the WoS program to be able to bring these experiences to regional and remote students.

Miles Regional Conference – my first trip as a YSA was to the Miles Regional Conference and it was full of excitement and colour and kids in cow onesies and I loved every part of it. I was impressed by the passion and innovation students brought to their projects, and the curiosity they had for each other’s work. In particular, the students’ questions for my own project led to me to think about the implications of my research in a different way and I left the experience reinvigorated in my work.

Gen-STEM lab tour at the University of Queensland – I had the privilege of working together with Alex and others from the 2023 Gen-STEM program to organise a tour of my own lab for our Year 7 mentees. The tour involved showing the girls where I work, the kinds of tools we use and hearing from a senior female researcher at our institute. The students got to dress up in lab coats and goggles and practice using pipettes - just like we do - giving them the chance to actually see what a career in STEM could look like for them.”

Zheng Jie Chia - The University of Queensland

New to Wonder of Science this year! Zheng is a student favourite with his Cabbage DNA workshop at Miles Regional Conference being the talk of the town. Here, he tells a story about his recent trip to Mount Isa:

“On the Mt Isa visit, I was asked how to be a chef by a secondary student. Without much thinking, I told the student that there were culinary art degrees in the universities. However, he was worried he would not have a suitable enough ATAR for university.

ZHENG AT Miles Regional Conference - full conference story here

I told him that he could start with TAFE or study another program at the university first to gain more credit to study culinary arts. Before leaving, I added, “You might change your ambition three years later. You can drive straight to Brisbane or zig-zag through your journey to somewhere you never thought before!”. I am often asked to advise students about pursuing a particular career at the tertiary level. However, it is also an opportunity to reflect on my journey to PhD study. I started with a non-science degree, working in a pharmacy for two years before going back to university again to study a biology-focused PhD; something I never planned seven years ago!

Drawing of Zheng by a Year 7 student.

After the conclusion of a Year 7 visit, I was told to wait after class by another ambassador because someone drew a portrait for me. Being a Young Science Ambassador, I visit schools to give science lessons to students. However, I also learn from students on every WoS visit. On the Mt Isa visit, I saw more than 100 Year 7 students in a week and gave multiple Year 7 lessons, but the portrait reminded me that I am new to every student and keeping an enthusiastic disposition is essential as you never know how deep the impression you give to students will be during these exciting WoS visits. See attached photo—credit to Lexi from Spinifex State College, Mt Isa.

Thank you for allowing me to visit so many great schools!”

David Sutton and ZHENG Jie Chia on a recent trip to Mount Isa.

Over 100,000 people reached since 2012!

Wonder of Science is excited to announce that we have reached over 100,000 people across Queensland since we began in 2012!

Thank you to the staff, teachers, students, partners, universities, Young Science Ambassadors and Flying Scientists who have made this possible. We look forward to continuing to foster a STEM culture in Queensland schools in the years to come.

Here are just some of our favourite photos from recent years.