New exhibits are rolling out at Scitech Discovery Centre ahead of the school holidays thanks to a half-million-dollar grant.
The first of 18 exhibits in the new gallery titled Here, There and Everywhere hit the floor this week to the delight of curious young minds.
More than 300,000 people visited Scitech’s Discovery Centre in the past year.Credit: Claire Ottaviano
The new permanent exhibition will shine a spotlight on the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) leaders of WA and how local science and innovation is helping to solve challenges within the WA community.
Accepting the $571,000 Lotterywest grant on Friday, exhibitions and operations general manager William Peng said the 247,000 STEM workers in WA contributed about 87 billion to the WA economy.
He said a recent study showed that one-in-three of those workers were inspired into their careers through Scitech.
“This is a unique opportunity for us to tell the Western Australian story,” he said.
“The whole emphasis of the exhibition is to show you don’t have to go beyond our borders to have a meaningful career in STEM, and that’s what we want to encourage.”
Exhibitions have been built on site since 1988, with visitors encouraged to “knock on the workshop door” for a first-hand look at how the creative ideas for displays come to life.
In a bid to increase accessibility of science programs to students outside the metro, Scitech takes its exhibitions on the road.
“We visit every regional school once every three years, as you can imagine in a state so large that’s a huge mission,” Peng said.
Exhibitions at Scitech are created in-house, right on the City’s doorstep.Credit: Claire Ottaviano
“We’ve got trucks that enable us to bring those experiences that we develop in house [to the regions] and it is grants that help support us to reach those regional communities.”
As a part of this year’s budget, the State Government allocated $1 million to Scitech to create exhibits focused on WA scientists, industries and First Nations science.
Science Minister Stephen Dawson said more than 300,000 people visiting Scitech’s Discovery Centre in the past year.
“We know that STEM jobs are growing at twice the rate of other jobs with an increase of 85 per cent from 2010 to 2020, with Scitech always serving as a fantastic way to get inspired by the sector,” he said.
“This latest Lotterywest grant is a great contribution to Scitech to ensure inspiration and knowledge will be shared for years to come.”
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