Meredith Mitchell, the senior research scientist with Agriculture Victoria, has been working with year five and six students at St Mary's Primary School to foster an interest in science and mathematics from a young age. 

Dr Mitchell is working with St Mary’s thanks to the Scientists in Schools program, a national effort managed by the CSIRO.

She has visited teacher Jodie Smith’s classroom every Friday since the beginning of the year, teaching the students about the importance of evidence-based research.

“Mrs Smith and I work together to create informative and interactive lessons around maths and science,” she said.

“For example, last term we focused on probability and chance in maths, and had lots of fun looking at the probability of picking a red M&M.

“We worked through the steps as if the students were scientists.

“The class developed a question, ran the experiment, collected the data, calculated percentages and decimals, looked at predicted and actual outcomes, graphed the results and developed conclusions.” 

For Dr Mitchell, the biggest lesson was about teaching the children the science hidden in everyday life.

She also said it was crucial to teach the children not to immediately accept things they read on the internet.

“It’s our aim to show the students there is science behind lots of the everyday things they take for granted,” Dr Mitchell said.

“I hope that in these students I am able to help to create inquiring minds, ready for the future.

“An example of this is not to believe everything that you read or see on the internet.

“My hope is to shift the perception of ‘who is a scientist’ – it’s not just men in white lab coats.

“The other value of this program is that it develops closer links between Agriculture Victoria and local communities.” 

St Mary’s teacher Jodie Smith said having Dr Mitchell visit the classroom throughout the year had been an invaluable experience for the students.

“Dr Mitchell has been extremely helpful – she’s very knowledgeable and it’s great to have an expert in the room for these classes,” she said.

“She’s been inspiring the kids to look for careers in STEM subjects.

“We’ve done lots of experiments and reports, looking at statistics and probability that she would see in her own research and applying it to real life examples.

“I have a background in science as well, so it’s been great to come together and plan our lessons using the curriculum and give the kids something real.”