January 5, 2016

Gifted youngsters challenged with fun school holiday learning

More than 900 academically high-achieving primary and high school students descend on UOW. 

More than 900 gifted and talented young students from the Illawarra and beyond will visit UOW in January to partake in the popular ‘Learning Labs’ program.

The program, now in its fourth year, is designed to challenge academically high-achieving students from Year 1 through to Year 10 with fun and interactive workshops that encompass building video games, creating 3D animation and learning Mandarin.

Learning Labs Project Officer, Sarah Smith, from UOW’s In2Uni team, said the primary school programs, Little Learning Labs (for Year 1 and Year 2 students) and Early Learning Labs (for Year 3 to Year 6 students), have proved extremely popular.

“The attendances for our primary school programs have tripled in just two years. As the community spreads the word of Learning Labs we are seeing more students travelling from our surrounding regions, with many families making a holiday out of their visit to Wollongong.”

Little Learning Labs (7 – 8 January, pictured above and below) and Early Learning labs (12 – 13 January) will feature workshops on building video games, LEGO robotics, 3D animation, science, poetry and graphic design.

The high school Learning Labs program (21 – 22 January) will include science and technology based workshops on myth-busting physics, 3D modelling and CAD (computer-aided design) and building video games, which has proved extremely popular.

“Each workshop for the high school program has been developed and will be presented by university academics or specialists who are leaders in their particular field, which is a real drawcard for our school students,” Ms Smith said.

“We aim to give high achieving students something different to what they can achieve at school – a real university experience with a variety of dynamic and challenging workshops that suits their interests.”

Ms Smith said Learning Labs, which relies on the volunteer support of UOW students to assist in workshops, has been steadily growing since its inception in 2012.

“Many of our past Learning Labs students are now UOW students, well into their degrees and some are coming back to volunteer with the workshops. It’s really rewarding to see this happen,” she said.