Aboriginal Research Project Officer, Danielle Hedland, assisting Schools Coordinator, Sistha Halim, lead a class in their experiment.
What do strawberries, slime and sliced bread all have in common? They’re all being used as tools to educate and inspire the next generation of researchers as part of the increasingly popular The Kids Discovery Centre Schools & Outreach Program.
Brought to life by former teacher and now The Kids Schools Coordinator Sistha Halim, the Discovery Centre Schools & Outreach Program blends messy, hands-on experiments with real-life science to educate and inspire the next generation of budding scientists.
The program helps the Institute connect with the younger community in a fun, educational and unique setting, reaching kids via school excursions, incursions, and school holiday workshops which simulate fundamental The Kids research in areas such as lung health, diabetes, and genetics.
During the school term, a typical excursion sees primary school classes from all over Perth visit the Institute for a two-hour session. Students don a lab coat, engage in an exciting, hands-on experiment, and see a state-of-the-art working laboratory – all while being guided by some of The Kids’ best and brightest minds.
“What makes our excursions so unique is the fact the sessions are delivered by actual The Kids researchers,” Miss Halim said.
“We also offer school incursions, which are just as special, with our researchers hosting demonstrations and sharing an insight into life as a researcher in classrooms right across the Perth metropolitan area.”
The learning doesn’t stop at the end of the school term, with a school holiday program packed with 1.5 hour workshops on a range of topics – from poo and gut health to blood typing and DNA sequences – kicking in during the breaks for children aged from 5 to 14.
“The school holiday workshops are designed so that children can continue to learn about the areas they enjoy and observe how the STEM subjects they do in school are then translated into real life-saving medical research,” Miss Halim said.
It’s not just schoolchildren who find the program fun, with The Kids researchers like PhD student Denby Evans getting just as much out of it as the kids.
Ms Evans regularly volunteers in the program to help build awareness of opportunities in science for the younger generation.
“Great scientists start out as curious children,” Ms Evans said. “The little girl with endless questions might one-day cure cancer, or the boy with the big imagination could invent life-saving technology.
Discovery Centre Manager Cristin Taylor said the program was an integral part of The Kids Research Institute Australia’s commitment to the community and had achieved phenomenal reach in its first year of operation.
“In 2020 alone more than 1,500 kids from 23 schools came through our school program, with hundreds more engaged through our school holiday workshops,” Mrs Taylor said. “By introducing students to our researchers and facilities we hope to inspire the next generation and – one day – even welcome some of them back to the Institute as real-life researchers.”
