ConocoPhillips Science Experience 2019
At the end of 2019 four Year 9 Students attended the ConocoPhillips Science Experience 2019. This four-day event included lab sessions, workshops and lectures by expert speakers in various science field including mining, agriculture, energy, environment, health & medicine and space & technology. This extraordinary opportunity also allowed students to glimpse what University level science could have in store for them.
Thank you to the City Rotary for supporting our students at this event.
Please find below articles by two of the students detailing the invaluable experiences and knowledge gained at this event:
At the end of last year, between 10 and 13 December, I participated in the ConocoPhillips Science Experience held at Curtain University. Throughout the experience, I had the privilege of participating in experiments held in laboratories, meet and hear senior lecturers in the lecture theatres, attend site visits and walk around and experience what it is like to be on the campus of a university. I also had the privilege of meeting Dr Chong Wei, a Marine Biologist, who is currently conducting a research about the bioacoustics of Dolphins and Porpoises.
During the experience, each day we would get a different expo. There was an Agricultural expo, a Human Biology expo, a Forensic Chemistry expo and a Space Science Expo. In each expo we had to perform a series of tasks that were normal in the specific type of science, and we were able to explore different career pathways in science. Some of the things I had the privilege of doing was looking at blood samples and learning what irregular blood looks like, conducting a forensic investigation on a murder, finding the glucose levels in milk and many more awesome things. The last expo, which was my favourite one, was the Space Science Expo. At this expo, there was a bunch of different stations containing the different branches of Space Science. There was a table with a device that would be used to measure mars-quakes. At another station, there were these capsules that were like satellites that would orbit the earth once they were launched. At another station, there were these giant camera-like devices that would capture meteorites and comets and would record them.
On the last day of the Experience, we were able to choose a tour; I went to the renewable energy compound. There, I learnt different methods of making renewable energy, and the effectiveness of different devices. On the last day, there was a sausage sizzle and a last science experiment. I really enjoyed the whole experience; not only did I learn so much, but I also made amazing new friends and was able to socialize and meet with people. The whole experience is one I’m never going to forget. Thankyou John Forrest for giving me this opportunity.
- Kiara Elbagari (Year 9 Student 2019)
On the second last week of 2019, the four of us participated in the ConocoPhillips Science Experience that was held at Curtin University. This experience allowed us to partake in hands-on experiences, listen to current PhD students and also meet new people who had similar interests in science.
We first were split into groups of around 5 with people we had never met before. It was first hard to talk to my group members for the first couple of days but towards the end, I managed to make a few friends. Not one day was the same, they were each jam-packed with different experiences. Every morning, a current PhD student would come and talk about the studies they’re doing and the life of a student in university. We would roughly have 2 activities a day that we would do for around 2 hours each. Activities included Food and Agriculture, Health, Team Zombie, Space and Mining. My favourite activity was health because we learnt about how pharmacists pack medicines for patients, cutting a digital human body into sections and how infectious diseases can spread via bodily fluids. The second last day was different compared to the first 2 days because we got a chance to pick a tour and also do a secret activity. I chose to tour around a supercomputing centre and after that, we went to do our secret activity. Sadly, it wasn’t so exciting or secretive as it sounded, it was making ice cream out of liquid nitrogen. On the last day, we had a barbecue and ended the whole program by watching our Meet the Innovator projects.
This year, a new activity called Meet the Innovator Project was introduced into the program. This is where we met an Innovator and learnt about the interesting research they have done. We then had to interview our innovator and make a 90-second video about them. Each day, we got an hour to plan and make the video. I was very lucky that my group was assigned Dr Yanyan Yin. Dr Yanyan Yin received her PhD in 2013 in applied mathematics/statistics. She was such an inspiring person and I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a PhD in applied mathematics/statistics before meeting her.
I would like to thank Ms Vale and the whole science department for giving me this wonderful opportunity. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and I recommend this to anyone that has an interest in science. It’s an amazing chance for people to gain an insight into different science fields and have a rough idea on what they want to do in the future.
- Somiya Kumar (Year 9 Student 2019)
