Meet the Aussie (and Kiwi) kids whose school science projects might just change the world
These Aussie (and Kiwi) kids might just change the world with their school science projects. Meet the team flying to the US to represent our corner of the globe on the international stage.
NSW
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New South Wales should export its science curriculum to the rest of the country, one of Sydney’s leading educators has claimed, with the majority of Australia’s brightest young scientific minds born and bred in the Harbour City.
The Australian Science and Engineering Fair (AUSSEF) has revealed its team of ten school and university students, some as young as 15 years old, selected to compete on the world stage at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus, Ohio next month.
The 2025 finalists, whose groundbreaking projects have the potential to revolutionise what we know about everything from animal conservation to volcanoes on Mars, include two Kiwi students and one South Australian teen, while the remaining seven are being educated in Sydney.
AUSSEF co-ordinator and science teacher at Redeemer Baptist School Stuart Garth said the introduction of two new HSC subjects in 2018 were game-changers for STEM education, and saw the number of entries to the Fair sextuple in a single year.
‘Investigating Science’ focuses on developing the skills of scientific inquiry while ‘Science Extension’ sees students produce a peer-reviewed project and report over the course of an entire year.
“Overnight, New South Wales’ performance shot up,” Mr Garth said.
“When these students go to university, they’re steps ahead of everybody else and they know what to do, and a lot of the other states don’t have those (subjects).”
In recent testing for OECD science and mathematics assessment program TIMSS, 15-year-olds in NSW attained a higher average score than their peers in every other jurisdiction but the ACT.
It comes as Australia’s political leaders hone in on vocational education and skills ahead of the federal election, with Coalition leader Peter Dutton promising to establish a network of technical colleges across the country while Labor leader Anthony Albanese plans to fast-track trade qualification with a new ‘advanced entry’ training program.
Former classmates Anubhav Ammangi and Yemi Olaitan, both 18 years old and studying science at university after graduating from Redeemer last year, cited NSW’s Science Extension subject as “essential” in designing the projects they’ll be presenting in the US in May.
“I think it’s a really great course, in that it makes you go out and do something by yourself … you really just get to explore the whole world of science,” Mr Ammangi said.
Mr Garth is lobbying the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to make similar courses available nationwide.
PLC Croydon student Lily Rofail, sponsored by energy infrastructure company Zinfra, will also be among the crew travelling to Ohio, taking with her a sharkskin-inspired pitch to slash heavy vehicles emissions by reducing aerodynamic resistance.
“Sharks, across their skin, have microscopic denticles which are an adaptation that allows them to move faster in water by reducing their fluid resistance,” Ms Rofail explained.
“I decided if I was able to apply these onto a model truck, I would find out if it would actually be able to reduce drag above the surface on land.”
The 16-year-old girl urged other kids who are passionate about making a difference to “follow their curiosities” with STEM.
“Science is like your voice in action,” she said.
Do you have an education story for The Daily Telegraph? Email eilidh.mellis@news.com.au
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