State schools lead the way in science innovation

Queensland’s innovative state schools are making huge advances in the teaching of science, to the extent that the sector swept the board in the School Science section of the 2014 Peter Doherty Awards for Excellence in Science and Science Education.

Bundamba State Secondary College and Springwood Road State School took the honours for their imaginative and committed approach to the subject, winning cash grants to help them continue and expand on their groundbreaking work. Read more about their work below.

The awards are named after Professor Peter Doherty AC, co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and 1997 Australian of the Year, who was himself educated at Indooroopilly State High School.

An "average" school with big ideas

A commitment to developing the scientists of the future has prompted Springwood Road State School to revolutionise its approach to the discipline.

The school has come up with a number of innovative approaches designed to do away with the subject’s musty, dull and old fashioned image and make it exciting for a new generation.

A weekly science club has been introduced, which has proved so popular that numbers have had to be limited. The children are also set a weekly science question, while a scientist of the week is picked every week and honoured in front of the school assembly.

The school has hosted an annual science day for gifted and talented children from local cluster schools, and last year a science stall was set up at the school fete at which children could come and do experiments.

The school has also developed strong links with nearby Springwood State High School, which puts on science expos at the under-eights day and hosts an aviation club, which gives children the chance to work with high school students on developing and launching rockets.

The school’s lead teacher in science, Jessica Kanowski (pictured left), won a Peter Doherty teaching award herself two years ago, which resulted in her attending NASA Space School, an experience she shared with the children through science workshops on rockets and space.

She explains: “We want to put science in the limelight, to get the kids motivated about it, and to get them away from thinking about it as the stereotypical boring old man with the monotone voice standing up the front making plastic dinosaurs fight. We want to get them excited about discovery, because these children are our future. We want to try to encourage them to get in to the field of research and not let it die, because there still so many problems out there, such as cancer, that these children could one day help to solve.

“The children are very highly motivated. I walk though the school and children pull me up non-stop, ‘Mrs K, I did this science experiment at the weekend’ and ‘Did you know that this could do that?’ The excitement that has been generated around it is really good.”

Principal Lesley Vogan (pictured right) said: “We’re trying to put science into the school in many different ways. We do science in the classroom, but we’re also trying to reach out.

“Our children don’t traditionally see themselves as learners, so we’ve had a big push emphasising that ‘we are learners’ and highlighting the value of education. It’s about trying to build that whole culture of learning.

“We started quite small in what we were offering in science and started building up, and to an extent it was the children who were driving it and wanting to do more. It’s about biting off a bit at a time, and as you get the funding and as people come on board with what you are trying to achieve, you can add a bit more to it. Networking has also been very important, having the support of the high school, providing funding, the support of its HOD and its students.

“We’re an average primary school, but we’ve shown that it is possible to provide this little extra, that with the right people and the right connections, it is achievable.”

College finds inspiration in the stars

When it came to finding ways of enthusing the students of Bundamba State Secondary College about science, the sky really was the limit.

Looking to find a way of celebrating its outstanding academic students and encouraging its junior students to engage with maths and science, the college decided to think big, organising a trip to the heart of the USA’s space program, NASA’s Johnson Space Centre.

Principal Andrew Peach recalled: “We sat down to think about where you could go, what could you do, what would be something that would add value for those high-performing kids? Then we thought, well, if we are looking to promote the academic side, why not go for the top, why not go to NASA!”

The school went on to become the first Australian school to take part in NASA’s five-day Space School course.

This was no tourist visit. The participants – year 11 and 12 students studying senior maths and science subjects on an OP pathway – were put to work planning a mission to Mars. They were split into groups to develop and launch a two-stage rocket, build a lander that could be dropped from height without damage, build a rover that could navigate the Martian surface and pick up rock samples, and use a spectrometer to work out the properties of the rock.

They also got the chance to take part in a pool session, working underwater to simulate zero gravity using the same facilities used to train astronauts.

It was the culmination of months of work for the students, who benefitted hugely from the links that the college cultivated with universities and industry bodies. In particular, QUT organised a program for the students in the lead up to the trip, as well as PD sessions for the teachers.

Of course, such a trip does not come cheap, and a lot of effort went in to ensuring that parental income was not a determinant of who could take part. Sponsorship was secured, including from the CFMEU, and a huge fundraising campaign was undertaken to help subsidise the expenses. The three staff members who accompanied the students even paid their own way.

Andrew Peach explained: “This was a really great opportunity for the kids, and we worked really hard to get the cost down as low as we could to ensure that it was available for any student with the interest and the ability to be able to benefit.

“We didn’t want to have to say ‘Here’s an opportunity. It’s 5,000 bucks, if you can pay for it you’re in.’ I didn’t want any of our students missing out on an opportunity like this for financial reasons, which is why we put so much into getting the external partnerships, sponsorship and funding.”

“But the value of what’s been gained, as a school and individually as staff members, has certainly outweighed the extra work that’s been required.”

It certainly appears to have been worth all the effort, with a marked increase in the number of students undertaking an engineering pathway. Some students even got the chance to swap ideas with world-renowned theoretical physicist and co-founder of string theory Dr Michio Kaku (pictured above with Bundamba students) during his visit to Australia earlier this year.

The college has also become one of the first in Australia to take part in the “Train like an astronaut” program for junior schools, linking physical fitness and training with science, maths and technology. A second Space School trip is planned for next year.

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 119 No 7, 3 October 2014, pp18-19