State Conference 2019

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See all the highlights from our 2019 State Conference here! Congratulations to all the regional teams invited to attend and showcase their curriculum-aligned WoS challenge tasks. Thanks again to Queensland University of Technology for hosting us this year.

A fantastic day was had by all with the judges reporting outstanding quality in the student presentations across all year levels! The following teams were awarded:

Year 5
State Champions - Kimberley Park State School, representing the South-East Region
2nd - Guardian Angels School, representing the Metro Region
3rd - St Luke’s Anglican School, representing the North Coast Region

Year 6
State Champions - Mansfield State School, representing the Metro Region
2nd - Stretton State College, representing the Metro Region
3rd - St Martin’s Primary School, representing the Metro Region

Year 7
State Champions - Bundaberg State High School, representing the North Coast (North) Region
2nd - St Mary’s College, Ipswich, representing the Lockyer Valley Region
3rd - Roma State College, representing the Darling Downs South West Region

Year 8
State Champions - Innisfail State College, representing the Far North Queensland Region
2nd - St Mary’s College, Ipswich, representing the Lockyer Valley Region
3rd - Taroom State School, representing the Darling Downs South West Region

Year 9
State Champions - Smithfield State High School, representing the Far North Queensland Region
2nd - Spinifex State College - Mount Isa, representing the Mount Isa Region
3rd - Bundaberg State High School, representing the North Coast (North) Region

This year two Year 4 teams from Stretton State College and Indooroopilly State School also showcased their projects for the first time at a Wonder of Science State Conference!

Wonder of Science returns to Cairns!

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In 2019, Wonder of Science returned to Cairns for the first time since 2017. Over 275 Year 7 - 9 students from two schools (Smithfield State High School and Innisfail State College) participated in term long STEM inquiry tasks ranging from taxonomic identification of bugs to understanding chemical energy transfer. Recently 40 students were selected to represent their schools the 2019 Wonder of Science Regional Conference at Jame Cook University in Cairns. This conference was the last of eleven regional conference held by Wonder of Science this year.

At the conference, teams of students presented the results of their research projects. We saw amazing presentations from our Year 7 - 9 teams with some students launching makeshift rockets, calling members of the audience to participate in live demonstrations of chemistry experiments and even presenting their work entirely without notes or palm cards with confidence rivalling that of University students.

Students also participated in Chemistry Workshops run by YSA Joshua Davis and a Q and A session run by our Young Science Ambassadors Soi Law, Felix Egger and Sachini Fonseka. JCU Young Science Ambassador Maria Rivera Araya also assisted with judging on the day.

Congratulations to the winning teams:

Year 7 - Innisfail State College

Year 8 - Innisfail State College

Year 9 - Smithfield State High School

The quality of presentations on the day was astounding from all teams. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the day.

We look forward to welcoming the Cairns winning teams to State Conference in Brisbane on November 29 at QUT!

Wonder of Science Makes a Mark at this year’s WiT Awards!

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There was great excitement at Wonder of Science when Young Science Ambassadors, Amy Chan and Hana Starobova were announced “Co-winners” of the Life Sciences Young Achiever Award at this year’s Women in Technology (WiT) black tie event at Brisbane City Hall, 30 August. Claudia Stocks was also a finalist in this category.

Our Director, Robyn Bull was also recognised at the event with a “Highly Commended” in the Community Award for her leadership of the Young Science Ambassador program and their impact on communities across Queensland. One of our Flying Scientists, Jyotsna Batra was also a finalist in the Life Sciences Research Leader Award.

Doctors Soi Law and Jacqui Wong joined the WoS team and consultant Maria Barrret for the celebration event, along with our special guests, Belinda Bern, Director UQ Graduate School, Kym Amor, Executive Principal Foxwell State Secondary College, Joanna Osborn, QTFN Marketing & Partnerships and Kaye North, DET STEM Champion.  

Congratulations to our finalists and Awardees!

Wonder of Science Returns to Darling Downs South West

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This year 1083 students from 17 Darling Downs South West schools (62 classes) from Year 5 - 9 participated in Wonder of Science thanks to generous funding from Arrow Energy! Thirty-six Young Science Ambassadors visited schools throughout the term assisting students with their Wonder of Science Challenge Tasks. Over 240 students were selected to represent their schools at Regional Conferences at either Dalby South State School in June or Miles State High School in July.

Representative teams from each school presented the results of their WoS challenge tasks for the term and participated in a "physics meets art", “science communication” and "cornflour slime" workshops throughout the conferences. The students also participated in Q and A sessions with our Young Science Ambassadors. At Dalby, the WoS Trophies were presented by Arrow Energy Operations Manager for the Surat - Maxwell Murray. Congratulations to all of the winning teams and to all of the students who participated!

The Winning Teams

Dalby:

- Year 5 - Drillham State School
- Year 6 - Dalby South State School
- Year 7 - Dalby State High School
- Year 8 - Bell State School
- Year 9 - Bell State School

Miles:

- Year 5 - Meandarra State School
- Year 6 - Moonie State School
- Year 7 - Roma State College
- Year 8 - Taroom State School
- Year 9 - Tara Shire State School

Wonder of Science was also privileged to have WIN News Toowoomba, Chinchilla News and ABC Radio report on the conferences. Thank you again to Arrow Energy for their continued support of Wonder of Science in Darling Downs South West.