Kids solve science bumps

More than 500 students took part in the Rotary Club of Bunbury’s Science Discovery Day last week.

The challenge was spread over four days and held in the South West Sports Centre and Newton Moore Senior High School.

Aimed at addressing the skills shortage in science and engineering, the event was a cooperative venture between the University of Newcastle and Rotary Club of Bunbury.

Former engineer Stephen Woodhouse from the Rotary Club of Bunbury has been involved in the competition since it first came to Western Australia back in 2005.

“The competition has been running for nearly 20 years, but it started in WA in 2005, back when I had my Engineer’s Australia hat on,” Mr Woodhouse said.

“But then Engineer’s Australia no longer wanted to be a part of it, so it became a Rotary run event.

“For me, engineering has been a fabulous event and this is a great way for me to give back and get these kids interested.”

Newton Moore Senior High School’s gymnasium was turned into a science workshop on Thursday when the school hosted the Year 6 students from five different Bunbury schools.

There were eight stations with hands-on activities all designed to challenge the students.

“Doing the hands-on activities has been really fun,” 11-year-old Azaria Heslewood said.

Some students found it to be quite the challenge.

Attempting to pull a loaded dummy truck across a bumpy surface without it tipping over, 10-year-old Ashton Spinelli and his team members were deep in concentration.

“We are trying to get this truck across without it falling over,” Ashton said.

“It is actually quite stressful.”

Later that afternoon the winners from the Year 6 student cohort were announced and handed awards at the school.

The challenge between the Year 10 students was slightly more competitive, with the students competing for a place in the national competitions being held in Bunbury in October this year.