The first official day of the NSTSS kicked off with a warm welcome to the program from Vic Dobos (CEO ASTA), Damien Pierce (Director NYSF), and Andrew Laming (MP for Bowman). It was great to hear from three passionate science education advocates, who encouraged us to wholly embrace the program over the next week.

Following another lovely stroll through the ANU campus, we attended our first lecture, presented by Dr Kaylene Young on stem cell research. This lecture was both insightful and relevant to the three of us, as we share biology as a future teaching area.

We also heard from ASTA about the newly launched Science ASSIST – a national online advisory service providing support for teachers and technicians. This resource will definitely come in handy on placement and in our future careers!

 

We rounded off our day with a visit to the ANU Physics Labs where we engaged in exciting rotations with ANU staff and students. PhD student Amelia Grieg informed us about her research into Plasma Physics for rocket propulsion, and the practical applications this will have on space travel in the future.

Dr Glenn Myers then gave us a tour of the CT scanning and 3D printing facilities, as part of the Department of Applied Mathematics. As you can see by the photos, there are a lot of great things we can generate with these technologies.

 

Lastly in the Laser Physics Centre we had the opportunity to experiment with laser mirroring technology with Dr Greg Lane, and were treated to research insights regarding the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres in diamonds by a PhD researcher. This could have remarkable potential for visual learning in the classroom!

As you can read, we are all having a great time so far and are grateful to be recipients of the ASTA/Step Up Award. Remember to check out NSTSS on Twitter and Facebook!

Stay tuned,

Gabby, Gemma, and Mel.