November 19, 2024

High school students become astrophysicists for the day

Students from Picnic Point, Lake Illawarra and Ingleburn High School take over physics labs to build their own telescopes

Year 10 and 11 high school students had the opportunity to work with University of Wollongong (UOW) physicists for a day to learn about the pathways studying physics can lead to.

For many it was their first time stepping foot on a university campus, let alone inside a state-of-the-art lab, with organisers hoping to demystify what goes on inside a physics or astronomy lab through a series of hands-on demonstrations.

The UOW STEM Day was held in collaboration with CSIRO Education’s STEM Professional in Schools program, the NSW Government’s Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) program and UOW.

Dr Shaila Akhter from the School of Physics organised the program and coordinated the event with the support of Associate Professor Nicholas Jones which saw 66 high school students from Lake Illawarra High School, Picnic Point High School and Ingleburn High School visit Innovation Campus and Wollongong Campus.

Astrophysicist lecturer Dr Akhter has spent her career fostering high school students' interest in STEM, working in various student outreach roles and encouraging engagement in physics, astrophysics and science in general. As part of the STEM Professional in Schools program, she represents the School of Physics, mentoring high school head teachers of science and frequently presents to local schools.

Through this work, Dr Akhter saw the need to give students a better understanding of physics in practice.  

“For many this was the first time they had stepped foot onto a university campus. Instantly they were excited by the surrounds of the campus, the scale, and then they got to work inside the labs, which was very eye opening for them,” Dr Akhter said.

The full day program, held in early November, involved a visit to Science Space at Innovation Campus in the morning, where they explored the space, attended a Liquid Nitrogen Science Show and planetarium show, and participated in a mini STEM workshop challenge. During the challenge, groups had to engineer a bridge constructed out of Lego blocks, meeting a set criteria of height, stability and ability to hold weight.

“Our students had the opportunity to explore the interactive space exhibits, explore distant galaxies at the planetarium and participate in dry ice demonstrations. Many had never entered a university campus and after doing so said it is not as intimidating as they imagined it to be,” said Lisa Ng, Head Teacher of Science at Picnic Point High School.

In the afternoon, the group travelled to the School of Physics on the Wollongong Campus where leading experts showcased the undergraduate physics facilities, including a Medical Radiation Physics lecture and demonstration, and visited three labs to conduct a series of lab-based physics activities.

“Some of the high school students study physics via distance education and don't usually have access to lab equipment so they were completely surprised by the quality of equipment. The teachers really appreciated the opportunity for their students to be able to access such high-quality lab equipment,” Dr Akhter said.

“Using a Helium-Neon laser we presented a hair measurement demonstration. Every student was able to measure the width of their own hair. Most were surprised and intrigued to learn that everybody has a different width of hair.”

There were plenty of opportunities for the students to interact and gain a first-hand understanding of studying physics at university level.

A panel of UOW experts, welcomed by Senior Professor Michael Lerch, including Interim Head of School of Physics Professor Susanna Guatelli, Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences  Senior Professor Michael Lerch , Associate Professor Nicholas Jones, Dr Jessie Posar and Dr Akhter, answered the students' questions about pathways to studying physics, engineering, and the potential career opportunities available.

As part of the program each student received their own telescope, funded by the Regional Industry Education Partnerships Programme from the NSW Department of Education, to build and take home.

“Breaking into three groups the students were able to learn how a telescope works by building their own. They were able to arrange all the bits and pieces of the lenses to see how it works. We measured, we calculated,” Dr Akhter said.

The students are currently studying a mix of subjects at high school, some from physics, science and iSTEM, an innovative student-centred elective that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Many of the students were surprised to meet other students with a similar interest in STEM. We know it can feel isolating to study physics, as the number of students studying it in the HSC has declined over time, so this gave them the opportunity to meet like-minded people.

“With only a handful of female students in total across the group from the three schools, the female students were especially excited to meet female academics working in STEM.”

Students from the UOW Physics Society hosted a free BBQ dinner for the students to end the evening and despite the cloudy night preventing the ability to test out their new telescopes, the students were encouraged to take their telescopes home to explore the night sky.

“One of the teachers straight away wrote back to us saying that she has attended a lot of those STEM days, but this was by far the best one,” Dr Akhter said.

“There has already been interest from other high schools in the area looking to get involved in the next UOW STEM Day.”