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Issue 51 – October 2014 – QUEEN MARGARET CALLING
Inspiring Girls with Science
During Term 3 and 4 there has been a focus on inspiring
and developing an awareness of STEM careers in the Middle
School. As part of this Assistant Head of Science, Dr Alison
Stevens, has been running lunchtime Science Seminars with
guest speakers.
F
irst up was Old Girl, Holly Winton,
who is a PhD student at Curtin
University in Australia. Holly spoke
to the girls about her research, including her
travel to the Antarctica to study ice core data,
where she looked at how our atmosphere
has changed over time.
Another
speaker
was
Andrea
Bubendorfer, a Senior Research Scientist at
Callaghan Innovation. She spoke to the girls
about trying to make ‘a lab on a chip’. This
would be a miniature device that can screen
for medical tests like cancer detection,
quickly from a drop of blood.
The purpose of these seminars are to
teach students the importance Science
plays in all our lives. Dr Stevens explains,
“Virtually everything you do involves
Science. Studying Science builds the
knowledge and skills needed to make
informed decisions and to help understand
how the world around us works - from the
very small to the complex. It is very difficult
to predict the world our students will face in
the future, but I can guarantee that Science
will play a major role in shaping it.”
Students are in agreement, Siena
Ash, explains, “I found Andrea’s work
on synchrotrons really interesting. She is
working towards creating a blood work lab
on a card as thin and small as a credit card!
Hearing from the different female scientists
has opened my eyes to the amazing future I
could have in science.”
In Term 4 Year 7 - 9 students will focus
on the Engineering component of STEM.
Guest speakers include Josh Bailey a network
researcher and software engineer working
for Google. and Will Brown a Senior
Lecturer of Engineering and Computer
Science from Victoria University. Will’s
specialty is Applied Cognitive Systems,
essentially, how to use inspiration from
natural intelligence to enable computers/
machines/robots to behave usefully. Later
Year 10 will be participating in a workshop
“Successful Thinking” with Dr Deborah
Stephens.
Year 6 PYP Exhibition and
Junior School Celebration of Learning
