Regional school students enjoy science competition at USQ

USQ hosted the Sustainability Alive Awards on Friday 6 August, show casing some of the region’s brightest science students.

Sam and Tim with their project, the SPC

The Faculty of Sciences in conjunction with the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) ran the competition.

Professor Mark Sutherland, Director of USQ’s Centre for Systems Biology was a judge for the event and was impressed by the high standard of competition.

'There is a high level of commitment from the students,' Professor Sutherland said.

'Many of the projects demonstrate high levels of collaboration between the students and they have used mature research skills to solve complex problems.'

One stand out entry was from Sam Watson and Tim Wiedman who are in Year 6 at Mater Dei Primary School.

The schoolmates worked on their project in their spare time creating their project where a solar panel charged a battery powered device.

Their project didn’t all go to plan after their journal and an important computer file went missing.

'We did a lot of work at home and on the weekend,' Sam said.

'We have really learnt a lot and persevered after we couldn’t find the computer file,' Tim said.

'We have really enjoyed it and we are feeling pretty confident.'

Tim and Sam did win their category and according to Mr Peter Haines, Science Education Officer and PICSE National representative, provided a great example of what this competition can achieve.

'An event like this provides a great chance for kids to get involved in and to really enjoy scientific investigations,' Mr Haines said.

Schools from around the region competed including: Darling Heights Primary School, Concordia Lutheran College, St Mary’s Catholic College (South Burnett), Toowoomba State High School (Mt Lofty Campus) and Mater Dei Primary School.