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.

Gladstone Regional Confernece

A big congratulations to the WONDER-full teams who participated in our Gladstone Regional Conference. Schools from Gladstone, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Biloela ventured to CQUniversity Gladstone to present the results of their Challenge Task research project and participate in workshops throughout the day.

Students also met 12 STEM researchers (Young Science Ambassadors) from Griffith University, QUT, University of the Sunshine Coast and The University of Queensland.

An extra congratulations to our winning teams:

Year 5 - Gladstone West State School
Year 6 - Kin Kora State School
Year 7 - Bundaberg State High School
Year 8 - Rockhampton State High School
Year 9 - Bundaberg State High School

Many schools attending this conference are supported by Orica and GroundProbe! Thank you to the Orica representatives who attended this event.

Thank you to CQU Gladstone for hosting us again this year.

We are excited to see a few previous Regional Conference winners amongst this year's winners! We look forward to seeing all of the winning teams at State Conference in Brisbane!

Mount Isa Regional Confernece 2023

Congratulations to the teams from Mount Isa and Cloncurry who participated in our 6th Annual Mount Isa Regional Conference on 10 October 2023.

Thank you to all of the Year 4 - 8 students who participated from across the region. Students presented the results of their Term 3 Challenge Task projects and participated in Cabbage Chemistry and Marine Ecology workshops! Students also participated in a speed-meet session where they got to know all 11 of the scientists from three universities (UQ, QUT and Griffith University) visiting Mount Isa for the conference.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

A special congratulations to the winning teams:

Year 4 - St Keiran's Catholic School, Mount Isa
Year 5 - A tie! Happy Valley State School and St Keiran's Catholic School, Mount Isa
Year 6 - Happy Valley State School
Year 7 - Spinifex State College
Year 8 - Spinifex State College

Thank you to Orica and GroundProbe for sponsoring schools in the Mount Isa region to participate in Wonder of Science.

Thank you also to Spinifex State College who has hosted this event for the past six years!

Something of a WoS Mount Isa tradition, the Wonder of Science team gathered for a photo at Outback Isa at the end of the day to celebrate:

Young Science Ambassadors travel to Mount Isa in 2023

Our amazing Young Science Ambassadors (including YSAs from Griffith University, QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and The University of Queensland) have done it again! This time inspiring and supporting Mount Isa students as they investigate their Wonder of Science Challenge Tasks.

Wonder of Science has been travelling to Mount Isa since 2018 to work with students across Queensland.

Thank you to our partners Orica and GroundProbe for supporting Wonder of Science to travel to Mount Isa in 2022 and 2023.

Orica and GroundProbe supporting WoS in Regional Queensland

What a WONDERfully HUGE October we have had here at WOS!

We have had not one... not two... but THREE amazing regional conferences in Mt Isa, Gladstone and Emerald. These three conferences were made possible by our partners Orica and GroundProbe!

Thank you to the wonderful representatives Suzie Lane and Selena Anderson (ORICA) and Lisa Cronqvist (GroundProbe) for attending and helping present awards at the Gladstone and Emerald Conferences.

Congratulations to the winning teams from Mt Isa Regional Conference:
-Year 4: St Kieran's Catholic School
-Year 5: Happy Valley State School
-Year 6: Happy Valley State School
-Year 7: Spinifex State College
-Year 8: Spinifex State College
-Year 9: Spinifex State College

Congratulations to the winning teams from Gladstone Regional Conference:
-Year 5: Gladstone West State School
-Year 6: Gladstone West State School
-Year 7: Bundaberg State High School and Rockhampton State High School
-Year 8: Bundaberg State High School
-Year 9: Bundaberg State High School and Biloela State High School

Congratulations to the winning teams from Emerald Regional Conference:
-Year 4: Denison State School
-Year 5: Blackwater North State School
-Year 6: Blackwater North State School
-Year 8: Dysart State High School

Congratulations to all schools who participated at these conferences!

International Women's Day and an exciting announcment

Yesterday, the Wonder of Science team was invited to GroundProbe to officially celebrate International Women's Day. Manager Kaylene Cooper along with Young Science Ambassadors Vanessa Zepeda and Stacey O’Brien - discussed the benefits of implementing the WoS across Years 4 - 9 and how our program has seen success in getting girls engaged in STEM from an early age including the fact that 69% of Regional Conference winners and 71% of our State Conference winners were female as well as the ongoing success of our Gen-STEM program developed in partnership with Foxwell State Secondary College.

Thank you so much to the team at GroundProbe who held a raffle for WoS and raised over $6400 to support the program. We would like to thank GroundProbe for their ongoing support and for supporting meaningful action for women and girls in STEM.

We are pleased that the donation from their staff will provide: 1. A bursary for a female early career researcher to be a Young Science Ambassador; and access for one school to participate in the Wonder of Science Challenge Task program for a school term.