A student at Bamaga State High School in a hands-on workshop, listening to a tuning fork. The students learnt about the properties and behaviour of sound waves through a series of hands-on activities.

Students at Kubin State School (Moa Island)

Jointly funded by the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), two young scientists have taken fun science activities and workshops to isolated schools in the Torres Strait Islands. Joel Gilmore and Jenny Riesz, both PhD students studying biophysics at the University of Queensland, were selected last year as ATSE Young Science Ambassadors. As a part of this award they undertook an outback tour west of Brisbane, running science shows and activities with students. This year, being World Year of Physics, warranted something further a field.

“We wanted to visit students in remote areas, and the Torres Strait Islands are as isolated as you can get, and still be in Queensland! The University runs a lot of excellent science outreach activities with schools in Brisbane, but those living further away miss out” said Jenny.

The duo ran hands-on science workshops and performed entertaining science shows for a total of approximately 850 students in yrs 1-10. “We visited 7 schools on 6 different islands – it was quite a trip!” commented Joel. “We were amazed at how isolated the islands are. Everything has to be shipped in by barge, so groceries cost a fortune, and fresh vegetables are hard to come by”. Jenny agreed. “The Torres Strait Islands are a very long way from everywhere! I was astounded to think that we were still in Australia – let alone still in Queensland! It’s so different from the rest of the country.”

“We regularly run fun science outreach with local students, and we found that the Torres Strait Islands students were noticeably different to those in Brisbane” said Jenny. “They were a little shy at first, but when they got to know us we found them incredibly enthusiastic! Usually the challenge, particularly with secondary students, is to get them involved and actively participating. On the islands, however, we found the students were so excited about everything that we had the opposite challenge of getting them to sit and listen quietly! They were a real pleasure to work with”.

The students weren’t the only ones appreciative of Joel and Jenny’s visit. “Our children are much richer for the experience which under normal circumstances they would not have had” said Richard Barrie, Principal of St Pauls State School on Moa Island. Tania Stevens, a teacher at Thursday Island State School agreed. “It is such a novelty to have visitors who aren't associated with sport. This is the sort of program that is of fantastic benefit to these students. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!”

The trip was one of a selection of activities for the World Year of Physics. To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Einstein’s four revolutionary ideas which changed the way we view our world, science outreach activities are happening all around the country.

“It’s really important that young people see science as fun and interesting” said Joel. “Too often I’ve heard people say that science is ‘too hard’, or ‘not cool’. To me it’s anything but! I love learning about the way our world works.” Jenny agreed. “We felt that it was particularly important to visit remote schools, since these are the students that always miss out. They are a long way from the nearest high school, and University is another world altogether! These students have to take a very big step to study science. We wanted to make it that little bit easier”. And it seems like Joel and Jenny did make a difference. “We ran into one young girl again later in our trip and discovered that she had actually built some of our demonstrations herself, and had ambitions of becoming a scientist!” said Jenny. “We were thrilled!”