Wonder of Science Wins WiT Award for Raising the Regions
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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!
