The ConocoPhillips Science Experience 2018 at Curtin University
During the last week of Term 4 2018 two Year 9 Students – Gabbi Bishop and Shubh Bhardwaj attended the ConocoPhillips Science Experience at Curtin University. Below is an article written by Gabbi Bishop detailing the valuable experiences and knowledge she gained at this Science Experience:
In December 2018, I travelled up to Curtin for 4 days to learn all about University life and culture, have a taste of the many fields of science to study, and listen to highly regarded guest speakers talk about their own university and study experiences.
Of all the year 9/10's there, each were split up into groups where we did activities and 'labs with'. Each day was full of 'Labs', one-hour sessions of activities, challenges and learning in many different scientific fields. These included, chemistry, physics, geophysics, mathematics, electrical engineering, robotics, petroleum, forensics, biomedicine, lab medicine, pharmacy, and parasitology. In each we would do some sort of experiment or activity that delved into what that field would hold in accordance to study, university courses, or to get a general gist.
My own personal favourites were pharmacy, where we made our own naturally scented hand cream; chemistry, where we created a redox experiment and lab medicine, where we learnt how to detect if a sample had caught a disease exactly like those who did so as a living. All the labs were excellent to really get a taste of various sciences, to determine which you prefer and would consider a career in. The people who taught each of the labs were either university students (some completing PhDs!) or professors who taught courses at Curtin. I knew that I was in great hands, and they could answer any pressing question anyone had.
We were also privileged to listen to some guest speakers. Each had many degrees in science, and shared their story of where they had come from and how they got to the job they were currently positioned in. Many had gone from course to course before finding something they really loved and were passionate about. Nearly every guess speaker stressed the point that it was completely fine if you didn't know what you were going to study or 'be' when you got older, because many didn't themselves, changed their minds several times or returned to Uni to take up a new course again and again. My favourite guest speaker was a lady who completed a PhD in which she burnt furniture, couches and motels. It opened my mind that science had so many broad opportunities.
As well as intense learning, I definitely had fun. We got to take part in 'top secret activities' which I can't tell you about because they're top secret ... No, I can! We had to do a break out of room sort of thing, eat ice cream made of liquid nitrogen and got a tour of "the hive" at Curtin, which tackled many technological-display projects. Another day we had to build the tallest, strongest and most effective tower out of spaghetti and tape, but my group was disqualified because someone used paper in our frenzy to actually make it look like a tower.
It was easy to make friends because the people who attended were just as passionate and nerdy about science as myself. It was great to be able to geek out with other people your age and get to know people outside of school environments.
All in all, I would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone with a passion and aspiration to pursue science in the future, or anyone with an interest in it. It really opens opportunities to think deeper about what you wish to study and puts you at ease about having to decide straight away- even though I'm set on my future goals! It was a wonderful, mind opening experience that is brilliant to take part in.
