State Conference 2023

Congratulations to all of the students and teachers who attended the Wonder of Science State Conference! We were so excited to welcome teams from across the State with over 290 people attending the 2023 Wonder of Science State Conference at The University of Queensland including 240 in-person and an additional 57 zooming in virtually.

Students who have won Regional Conferences across Queensland presented the results of the term-long Challenge Task research projects competing to be State Champions!

Students also participated in workshops on Owl ecology, fungi and food throughout the day and participated in a speed meet session with our Flying Scientists and Young Science Ambassadors.

A special congratulations to the winning teams

Year 4:

First Place - Kimberley Park State School

Second Place - Taroom State School

Third Place - Brightwater State School

Year 5:

First Place - Taroom State School

Second Place - Stretton State College

Third Place - Hambledon State School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Chinchilla

Year 6:

First Place - Kimberley Park State School and Brightwater State School

Second Place - Meandarra State School

Third Place - Mourilyan State School

Year 7:

First Place - Spinifex State College - Mount Isa

Second Place - St Mary's Catholic College

Third Place - Redlands College

Year 8:

First Place - Foxwell State Secondary College

Second Place - Rockhampton State High School

Third Place - Spinifex State College

Year 9:

First Place – Bundaberg State High School

Second Place - Stretton State College

Third Place - Foxwell State College

Congratulations to Chase from Hambledon State School and Kevin from Kimberley Park State School for receiving the STEM Excellence Award (an award for a Year 4 – 9 student who shows a great commitment to STEM).

A big thank you to Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson for providing an insightful keynote presentation for students. We loved one of your takeaways: "Most things fail in science, but that's part of the scientific process"

We were also featured on 7NEWs Toowoombah!

We are also very excited to announce that 80% of State Champions in 2023 were female! Incredible!

Thank you to our partners including Arrow Energy, Rio Tinto, Orica, GroundProbe, QUT (Queensland University of Technology), Griffith University, University of the Sunshine Coast, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Queensland Trust for Nature, Queensland Government and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering for making WoS possible.

Wonder of Science in Miles 2023 supported by Arrow Energy

A big congratulations to the Years 4 - 7 teams who participated in the Miles Regional Conference at Miles State High School this year. Thank you also to the 10 Young Science Ambassadors (PhD students) who travelled to Miles to participate in conference! Students also participated in two workshops looking at DNA extraction and using vegetables (cabbage) to determine pH.

We were also excited to be interviewed by 4WK Radio on the day!

Congratulations to the winning teams:

Year 4 – A tie between two teams from Taroom State School

Year 5 – St Josephs Catholic College and Taroom State School

Year 6 – Meandarra State School

Year 7 – Miles State High School

Wonder of Science is the Darling Downs is supported by our partners at. Arrow Energy. Thank you Arrow Energy for your ongoing support!

Wonder of Science Regional Conferences go Virtual!

Darling Downs South West schools (32 classes) from Year 5 - 9 participated in Wonder of Science thanks to generous funding from Arrow Energy! Based on continuing uncertainties related to COVID-19 all Wonder of Science school programs moved online for 2020 - meaning Young Science Ambassador visits will occurred via video lessons or video conferencing sessions. The 2020 Wonder of Science Darling Downs South West Regional Conferences also looked a little different running ONLINE via Zoom where representative teams from each school presented the results of their WoS challenge tasks for the term.

Congratulations to all of the winning teams and to all of the students who participated! The winning teams were:

  • Dalby South State School (Year 5)

  • Meandarra State School (Year 6)

  • Taroom State School (Year 7 and 8)

  • Roma State College (Year 9)

Our winning Meandarra team included students that were Year 5 winners in 2019 - making them two-time champions!

All participating students were mailed a certificate for participation and the winning teams received a trophy and medals which schools presented to their students at school parades.

Watch this space for the next round of winning teams from the Term 3 Virtual Regional Student Conferences!

Wonder of Science Returns to Darling Downs South West

This year 1083 students from 17 Darling Downs South West schools (62 classes) from Year 5 - 9 participated in Wonder of Science thanks to generous funding from Arrow Energy! Thirty-six Young Science Ambassadors visited schools throughout the term assisting students with their Wonder of Science Challenge Tasks. Over 240 students were selected to represent their schools at Regional Conferences at either Dalby South State School in June or Miles State High School in July.

Representative teams from each school presented the results of their WoS challenge tasks for the term and participated in a "physics meets art", “science communication” and "cornflour slime" workshops throughout the conferences. The students also participated in Q and A sessions with our Young Science Ambassadors. At Dalby, the WoS Trophies were presented by Arrow Energy Operations Manager for the Surat - Maxwell Murray. Congratulations to all of the winning teams and to all of the students who participated!

The Winning Teams

Dalby:

- Year 5 - Drillham State School
- Year 6 - Dalby South State School
- Year 7 - Dalby State High School
- Year 8 - Bell State School
- Year 9 - Bell State School

Miles:

- Year 5 - Meandarra State School
- Year 6 - Moonie State School
- Year 7 - Roma State College
- Year 8 - Taroom State School
- Year 9 - Tara Shire State School

Wonder of Science was also privileged to have WIN News Toowoomba, Chinchilla News and ABC Radio report on the conferences. Thank you again to Arrow Energy for their continued support of Wonder of Science in Darling Downs South West.