Newington College held its biennial Science and Technology Festival in September. This year creative and engaging scientists from around Sydney presented over a two day period to the whole school. Scientists from UNSW, USYD, MU, CSIRO, Maritime Museum, Australian Museum, ANSTO, Westmead Hospital, TAFE and other scientific institutions participated in a range of activities all with the aim of making Science and Technology relevant and enjoyable and I believe we achieved this aim spectacularly.

A sample of the presentations that took place over the two day Festival were;

On days 1 and 2 Shane Hengst from the UNSW School off Physics erected a Star Lab where Year 7 boys were able to enter and experience the night sky with an experienced instructor who could orient them to the identity of the stars, planets and constellations. Effie Howe from Scienza Viva brought a huge range of freshwater animal life for year 9 boys to view under the microscope and study. Thomas Maschmeyer from USYD School of Chemistry ran a forum for year 10 boys on sustainable energy sources. The students had each previously prepared a presentation on a particular energy source which they presented to the group and for Thomas to evaluate and comment upon. A Wyvern mother, Miranda Kichenside-Quinn presented to Year 10 on growing up at sea and the huge amount of marine debris that exists there.

Bob Withey turned up with a bunch of live reptiles and spoke of taxonomy and identification of snakes and turtles. Claire Evans from The Cook’s River GRCCC River Health Monitoring Program amazed Year 7 with the wildlife that exist there. Andy Pitman, the UNSW Director of the ARC centre gave a talk to all of Year 10 on climate change and opened our eyes to the future. Dr Dieter Hochuli excited Year 7 by bringing his research organisms, locusts with him. He had students tie thin copper wire around their heads and investigate the factors that stimulate locusts to fly. Roman Greifeneder addressed the issue of heart failure. He talked about the mechanics of VentrAssist, an artificial device that assists those with heart malfunctions. Dr Bill Walsh from UNSW Faculty of Medicine presented again this year on Biotechnology. His talk centered around tissue engineering and osteoarthritis. Some aspects of this presentation were gruesome and involved real bones. Kathy Belov visited again to update us on the plight of the Tasmanian Devil and its facial tumor problem. Professor Bill Ballard brought his cattle dog and talked about the evolution of domesticated animals.

Many more very well credentialed scientists took time out of their busy schedules to engage the boys and to give real-life examples of where studying Science and Technology can lead and what career prospects are open to them.

We would like to sincerely thank the Newington Parents and Friends for funding this worthwhile event. Click here to read the Festival Review, written by Saahil Parekh (9/MO) and Ashan Karunagaran (9/KL) with photographs by Darcy Pointon (11/JN) and Sam Evans (11/JN).

Craig Seawright
Head of Science