Student Program
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There are a plethora of awareness and science education programs available for students. Geoscience Australia supports and partners with other organisations that provide learning opportunities for students where they familiarise themselves with the basics of geoscience and learn other details that will prove useful to them in their classroom study and later in the future.
The student programs are class-specific with different programs available for different classes. These programs incorporate fun and practical experience into learning and allow students to see for themselves all the things they have only read about in the textbooks or seen on video.
Programs include;
Hazard and Disasters Day
This is an annual day where students in Canberra senior EES classes get to visit Geoscience Australia. Due to the pandemic, the visit has been cancelled this year, and in its place, resources on earth hazards have been made available. These resources will assist students in year 11 and 12 classes to have a good grasp of what causes natural hazards and the impacts. The resources are comprehensive and cover various genres, while some of these resources are introductory, there are also more technical resources available such as talks by scientists from Geoscience Australia.
Some videos now have crib sheets which enable the teachers to access the latest Australia information about hazard risk and assessment. There is also a new activity that simulates a disaster and students have to think like emergency managers and make decisions that will ensure the safety of a community located near an active volcano. While the resources are aimed at ACT schools who would be unable to attend the Hazard and Disaster Day, teachers across the country can also take advantage of it.
National Youth Science Forum
This is an annual visitation to Geoscience Australia for senior secondary school students every January. The national youth science forum is a non-profit organisation that organises several residential programs that will encourage young people who are passionate about science. Its programs are targeted towards young persons with a passion for science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and more, and through these programs, students learn about the inspiring, reading, and engaging study and career options available for those in these fields.
The vision of the organisation is to inspire young Australians to value science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and understand its importance and contributions to the society at large.
The National Youth Science Forum delivers transformative and immersive youth-led experiences to young persons in Australia while also encouraging life-long stem literacy.
The Science Experience
One of the major parts of the ACT Science Experience is the visitation by Year 9 students to Geoscience Australia. This gives them the opportunity to explore and participate in different activities in the laboratory and risk modelling the coastline of Australia.
The Science experience is a nationwide program that gives students who have an interest in science the opportunity to engage in various science activities alongside passionate scientists. The program occurs in more than thirty-five tertiary institutions, using different lecture theatres and laboratories. Students get the chance to perform experiments using state of the art laboratories, attend site visits, meet and listen to senior professors deliver lectures on various topics in the lecture theatre, walk around the university campus, and experience the feeling of being on a tertiary institution campus.
The program provides participants with information about STEM and the courses and career options available for anyone who has the ability and interest and wish to pursue a career in the sciences. It offers students the opportunity to meet with other students that have similar interests and include social events for the participants to unwind.
Public Talks and Events
Geoscience Australia hosts several public talks meant for either general or technical audiences and delivered by experts in various fields. Students can attend these talks to gain insight into what science is all about and learn more about the subfields as well. Some of these talks are even filmed and posted online, which give students the opportunity to access the talks from any location in Australia. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all talks and presentations are done through online webinars.
There are also public events that are usually open to everyone, and students can attend these events. Such public events include National Science Week, Earth Science Week, Exploring for the Future Stakeholder Industry Workshops, etc.
Science Olympiad
Students also get to visit Geoscience Australia as part of the Australian Science Olympiad Competition. The Science Olympiad is a national extension program for high performing science students in secondary schools which ultimately leads to the International Science Olympiads.
Girls in STEM Statement
This statement articulates the efforts of Geoscience Australia to engage students in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), especially in relation to our educational programs. The statement highlights the difficulties experienced by girls which serve as barriers to their STEM participation and highlights ways through which the problems are being addressed.