GetSET 14 (PDF 1.4 MB)
Transcription
GetSET 14 (PDF 1.4 MB)
getset Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology newsletter for Science/Maths Teaching in Secondary Schools Congratulations to Gary Anderson (Hellyer College) and Penny Bester (St Brendan-Shaw College). Their dedication, achievements and enthusiasm for teaching have seen them share the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering’s 2008 Prize for Science/Maths Teaching in Secondary Schools. Gary and Penny attended the Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology’s Research and Teaching Awards Evening in Hobart in May to be presented with their prizes by the Dean, Professor Jim Reid. Each received $1000 and a plaque, and have been invited with their classes to visit UTAS to tour our research facilities later in the year. The Science/Maths Prize, sponsored by the Faculty, is awarded annually to a Year 9-12 teacher in a Tasmanian school who is teaching in the areas of mathematics or environmental, physical and/or life sciences. The winning Inside: • National Science Week 2 • National Youth Science Forum 2 • Profile – Dr Prue Loney 3 • The Castle 4 •Feature degree – Environmental Design 5 • Agricultural Science Camp 6 entrant is selected for his/her demonstrated interest in science/maths outside the classroom, ability to implement new and innovative ways to inspire students and extend their understanding of science/ maths, and demonstrated consistency of best practice in science/maths education. For more information on the Prize for Science/ Maths Teaching in Secondary Schools contact the Faculty Office ([email protected] or phone [03] 6226 2125). Entrants for the 2009 prize should lodge their entries by November 2008. U N I V E R S I T Y O F T A S M A N I A 2008 Prize Number 14 August 2008 Winners! Gary Anderson (Hellyer College) with Penny Bester (St Brendan-Shaw College). getset 1 The time to celebrate science with your students is here! National Science Week, Australia’s annual, nationwide celebration of scientific achievements and capabilities, is in its 11th year and will run from 16 – 24 August. Events and activities will be held statewide in Tasmania to ensure that all schools and all students have the opportunity to be involved. “National Science Week is a fantastic opportunity to showcase science and the people behind it,” said State Coordinator Jeannie-Marie LeRoi. “This year we have an exciting range of events happening around Tasmania, including public talks, open days, expos, exhibitions, workshops, science films and school programs – something to interest everyone!” Here’s a sample of 2008 National Science Week Activities @ UTAS • Young Tassie Scientists • A Taste of Agricultural Science • The Great Big Science Gig • Simon Pampena, The Angry Mathematician • UTAS Science Fair • Tasmanian Science Talent Search Technology Challenge • Hands-on, Minds-on Engineering Activities • Uni Info Days • Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute Open Days • Grote Reber Museum Maths and Physics To find out what’s happening in your area, visit the National Science Week website at www.scienceweek.info.au Students Explore New Heights at the National Youth Science Forum Discovering more about forest life 50 time UTAS had been involved, and for metres above the ground was just one of several of the interstate students it was the activities at the inaugural National their first time to Tasmania. Youth Science Forum seminar at UTAS. With the two-day program focusing Thirty Year 12 high-achievers from Victoria on UTAS theme areas, in particular and around Tasmania travelled to Hobart Marine and Antarctic Science and to explore course and career options Environment, students took part in in the sciences. The National Youth on-campus activities, as well as visiting Science Forum is held in Canberra CSIRO Marine Research Laboratories, each year during the summer holidays the Australian Antarctic Division, the for outstanding Year 12 students who Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries are interested in a career in science Institute, the Warra Long Term Ecological and engineering and who are planning Research Site and the Tahune Airwalk. tertiary study. Throughout the year, It was a great opportunity to showcase special seminars are held in conjunction the outstanding environment that with several Australian universities to UTAS offers! allow students to experience different NYSF delegates from across Australia check out the view from the Tahune Airwalk. course opportunities. This was the first getset 2 Staff Profile – Dr Prue Loney The Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology now has a Student do volunteer science teaching for a month at a school located at the Adviser, Dr Prue Loney, who is available to assist first-year gateway to the Okavango Delta in Botswana.” science students with any issues that may affect their studies at UTAS. Many students struggle with a number of issues while studying such as financial problems, academic issues, cultural issues, future career confusion, personal issues or course relatedissues. Prue is able to give individual assistance to students to identify where they need to go to get help on these issues, link the student with the appropriate service, and follow up with the student to see how they are going. Prue is well placed to help students within the Faculty, having Another strong interest of Prue’s is science education and engaging young students in science. Prue is currently working on her National Science Week Grant, A Taste of Agricultural Science, which aims to engage Year 11 & 12 Tasmanian students and the public in the science behind agriculture. This event will showcase the work of agricultural scientists through the use of hands-on activities and tastings of local produce. The event will run at UTAS from 21-22 August and on the Uni Info Day on 24 August. For more information contact Prue on (03) 6226 2412 or [email protected] formed excellent links with the staff at UTAS through being a science graduate herself. Prue completed a Bachelor of Science at UTAS and continued on to do a PhD on herbivores (possums and pademelons) through the Schools of Plant Science and Zoology. Prue’s research in this area provided her with the opportunity to do some volunteer research on a much bigger and aggressive herbivore, the black rhinoceros in Africa. “My research experience at UTAS, as well as the contacts that I had made, allowed me to explore this exciting opportunity. Since the first visit, Africa has become a passion of mine and I’m returning in September for the fourth time to Above: Prue in the Masai Mara, Kenya, with the Maasai people. Note the difference is spelling: the place has only one ‘a’ and the people have two ‘aa’s! Top: Prue had to get her hands dirty while investigating the diet of black rhino in Namibia. getset 3 Turning Home(lessness) into a Castle The School of Architecture & Design has unveiled a housing complete the first two prototype phases of The Castle. C1 established prototype for homeless young people. Looking somewhat like a the project brief and the spatial and structural parameters. C2 is the cross between a caravan and park cabin, The Castle is capable of first habitable prototype, designed and constructed on a trailer base by being deployed from a ‘housing bank’ into domestic backyards or a team of students and staff in a 15-day summer school. driveways, helping to alleviate family stress – a major cause of youth homelessness. Other deployment potentials have been identified, such as disaster-related emergency housing or as a ‘starter dwelling’. The Castle is a fully operational, 9 m2 dwelling that optimises space through the use of sleeping lofts, a fold-down deck, an outrigger awning and a generous array of apertures. Features also include “The Castle fills a niche in the housing market for a dwelling solar panels to provide lights, gas hot water and cooktop, and a that is mobile, autonomous, lean and capable of becoming a home,” self-composting toilet. said Mr Ian Clayton, one of the project organisers. Your students can build their own Castle (or at least learn the tools of In collaboration with Youth Futures (a local youth shelter) and the trade) with a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the School Studentworks (a ‘high-school alternative’ workshop), staff and students of Architecture & Design. See page 5 for details. For more information from the School of Architecture & Design have worked together to visit the Castle Blogspot at http://thecastleatutas.blogspot.com Students design and build a model of The Castle. The completed project. The Castle interior features a cooking space and sleeping loft. getset 4 Feature Degree: Bachelor of Environmental Design The Bachelor of Environmental Design (BEnvDes) is a pre-professional three-year course taught by the School of Architecture & Design the Inveresk campus in Launceston. The course aims to produce graduates whose creative abilities are developed to a level of competence necessary to gain admission to the Bachelor of Environmental Design with Honours, Master of Architecture, and equivalent courses in the fields of architecture, town planning and related design areas. Examples of other areas in which students have continued their studies include: landscape architecture, design education, building, environmental studies, urban design and conservation. Students commencing in 2009 will select one of the three design specialisations within the BEnvDes: Architecture, Interior Design or Furniture. All students will complete studies in design, history and theory, communications, building/manufacturing and environmental technologies, as well as completing specialist units related to their chosen specialisation. Each specialisation will have a strong focus on environmentally sustainable design – a strength the School is already well recognised for. The new course will retain elective units, which are presently taught in second and third year of the BEnvDes. Electives include units within the School such as Learning-by-Making, Building Simulation and Interior Architecture. The Learning-by-Making program enables students to design and construct full-scale building projects – check out some of the funky designs at http://webserver.arch.utas.edu.au/FCMS/ learnMaking.html and ask your students how many of the projects they recognise from around the State! Students can also apply to do electives outside the School. To gain entry into the BEnvDes students need to meet the University’s general admission requirements. Applicants are encouraged to have a broad academic background and a demonstrated interest in, commitment to and aptitude for design. getset 5 Above: BEnvDes students at work in one of four design studios at the Inveresk campus. Insert: School of Architecture & Design students helped to design and construct this Burnie bus stop. Agricultural Science Camp Some of the North-West Coast’s most innovative agricultural industries were ‘put under the microscope’ in May as part of the annual Grade 10 Agricultural Science Camp run by the School of Agricultural Science. About 25 science students selected from Devonport, Burnie, Ulverstone, Penguin, Latrobe, Yolla, Rosebery and King Island high schools discovered first-hand how science plays a vital role in such activities as world-class tomato production and potato research. “The aim of the camp is to give students a broad range of experiences in the science of agricultural industries, and at the same time relate this back to their school science experiences,” School of Agricultural Science education officer Paul O’Halloran said. Along with visiting local industries, students participated in various hands-on laboratory activities, learnt about current agricultural research and met with industry professionals. At the camp students discovered how science plays a role in the ‘real world’ and the many career opportunities available in agricultural science. “I now know that science can get me a long way,” quipped one happy camper! For more information contact Paul O’Halloran at the School of Agricultural Science on 0409 336 721. Agricultural Science Camp students visited the Brandsema glasshouses at Turners Beach. The company grows hydroponic tomatoes from seed, for sale in Tasmania and on the mainland. For more information about articles in this edition, or to make your own comments and suggestions, please contact: Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology University of Tasmania Private Bag 50 Hobart TAS 7001 Website: www.utas.edu.au/set Telephone: (03) 6226 2125 Email: [email protected] We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science. getset 6 1984 Marie Curie, Nobel Laureate, 1867 – 1934