NATIONAL Science Week has rolled into Wodonga with a hands-on look at energy, nature and the human mind.
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The Astronomical Society of Albury Wodonga teamed with La Trobe University, Wodonga, Vision Australia, Wirraminna Environmental Centre, and North East Water for the three-day science fest.
“Science Week is about trying to inspire kids to see how things work. Using circuits and use of simple machines and energy sources is about as engaging as it gets,” Wirraminna educator Owen Dunlop said.
Organisers expect close to 1000 visitors over the three days. On Wednesday afternoon there’s a lecture for senior high students and a public lecture on Wednesday night at the university’s Wodonga campus.
“We need to push science harder than we do, especially in primary schools,” David Thurley, from the astronomical society, said.
“If you don’t get the kids involved in primary you will struggle to pick them up in secondary school
“So most of our students here are primary or early secondary (years 7 and 8).”
The program, now in its ninth year and considered the best regional event of Science Week, offers five topics in two programs.
Program one covers CosmoDome – a portable theatre/planetarium chronicling the evolution of the universe – Sustainability and Light. Program two incorporates vision and mind experiments.
“It’s good isn’t it? The kids find it really engaging because they get to make simple, little gadgets using renewable energy,” Mr Dunlop said.
“They can use solar panels and rechargeable batteries in a combination to make lights work and make fans work.
“So they can then simulate real life examples of renewable energy, like wind turbines or windmills.
“We give them a little bit of theoretical knowledge and then seeing them being able to apply that little bit of knowledge and apply it to a physical situation is really engaging for kids.
The three-day event is a spin off from the astronomical club’s Wymah camp of a decade ago.
Logistics of getting students to and from Wymah inside school hours brought the event into Albury-Wodonga, initially at Charles Sturt University, and this year La Trobe.
School groups travelled from as far as Oxley, Mullengandra, Wangaratta and Lowesdale for the sessions.
