Activities and Events
Come on campus for a half-day of science activities and experience all that the University of Sydney Science Faculty has to offer - friendly and inspiring staff, outstanding facilities and breathtaking grounds!
Activities are available in the following areas:
- Biology school programs
- Chemistry school programs
- Mathematics school programs
- Physics school programs
- Geosciences school programs
- Agriculture for school students
- Engineering school programs
- Information technology activities and events
- Hands-on Microscopy
- Museum activities
Activities for Biology Students and Teachers
Science Alliance offers school groups the opportunity to visit the School of Biological Sciences at our Camperdown campus and participate in hands on laboratory based activities. The focus is on activities that are not able to be done at school.
Alternatively the School of Biological Sciences may be able to send a speaker to visit your school. The School is happy to speak to groups of teachers, careers advisors and parents, as well as students.
Contact: Carla Avolio
Phone: (02) 9351 4543
Mobile: 0434 070 338
Email:
One of our activities includes:
Monsters Beneath Our Feet: the mysterious, spineless world of invertebrates workshop (Years 7 - 11)
Come face-to-face with mini monsters living in your back yard. Go on an exploration of the exciting world of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrate life that is only made possible thanks to high resolution microscopes and special lighting equipment. Activities include holding some of Australia’s largest invertebrates, seeing unusual properties of scorpions, investigating the magic of insect flight and getting to know the creepy-crawlies that share our homes. This workshop aims to develop students’ skills in animal handling, observation and data recording, as well as reinvigorating their excitement for biology.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Minimum: 10 students
Maximum: 30 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Activities for Chemistry Students
Science Alliance schools are welcome to visit the School of Chemistry. Lectures, lab sessions and tours can be organised. All sessions are designed to be fun and educational.
Alternatively, the School of Chemistry can possibly send a staff member to your school to run fun hands-on activities.
Contact: Dr Jeanette Hurst
Phone: (02) 9351 3105
Email:
Some of our activities include:
Chemistry workshop (Years 7-12)
Chemistry hands-on activities are both fun and educational. Students will perform a number of experiments using liquid nitrogen, observe exciting demonstrations by our highly qualified staff and top it all off by making their own slime!
Duration: 1 hour
Minimum: 30 students
Maximum: 60 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Best of Chemistry – Interactive Demonstration
This features explosions of all kinds by our highly qualified staff – exploding balloons, the explosive thermite reaction and a chemical fireworks display!
Duration: 1 hour
Minimum:30 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Activities for Mathematics Students
There are a couple of activities for students interested in mathematics.
Mathematical Enrichment and Mathematical Olympiad
The Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee offers a variety of activities ranging from correspondence programs to residential schools, run with the assistance of academic mathematicians throughout Australia. These programs, which are presented in a carefully sequenced arrangement of enrichment activities, offer valuable tuition and resources to students. The most gifted students may be selected for more specialised training directed towards the Mathematical Olympiad.
Contact: Dr Bill Palmer
Phone: (02) 9351 3048
Fax: (02) 9351 4534
Email:
Website: www.amt.edu.au
The National Mathematics Summer School
The National Mathematics Summer School was founded in 1969 and is academically sponsored by the Australian National University and the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers Inc. It is a two-week program for 76 Year 11 high school students, proficient in mathematics, selected from every state and territory. It is presently in its 41st year of operation. During the two week school, students study three topics in higher mathematics and there are, in addition, special lectures at Mt Stromlo and the Academy of Science.
Date: 3 - 16 January 2010
Contact: Director, Associate Professor Terry Gagen
Phone: (02) 9268 0124
Fax: (02) 9351 4534
Email:
Website: www.nmss.org.au
Activities for Physics Students
The School of Physics can provide lecturers to speak to your classes on many current and interesting topics in Physics and Astronomy. Lecturers are happy to visit your school, or school groups are welcome to come to the School of Physics for talks or laboratory activities. Astronomy viewing nights can also be arranged.
Contact: Dr Phil Dooley
Phone: (02) 9351 3201
Email:
Cost: From $3 per student (incl GST)
Some of our activities include:
Full Body Physics (Years 7 - 12)
Look but don’t touch is NOT the theme of these sessions! You will get charged, cold, wet, illuminated and harnessed during 90 minutes of full body physics. In small groups you will not only see, but hear, feel and experience the important concepts of physics – lasers, electricity, magnetism, heat and cold – as you freeze air, charge your friends up to thousands of volts, and learn how blowing sucks.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Minimum: 8 students
Maximum: 50 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Physics of the Stars (Years 7 - 12)
See a black hole through a radio telescope, look in detail at sunspots and solar prominences thousands of kilometres across and weigh Jupiter. This gives a chance to see real data being collected and to chat with professional astronomers from the School of Physics. Note: for junior high school students an astronomy talk will replace the Jupiter calculation session.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Minimum: 8 students
Maximum: 30 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Astronomy (Years 10-12)
Spend an hour exploring the life and death of a star with a professional astronomer from the Institute of Astronomy at the School of Physics. Fully illustrated with spectacular images this informative talk is the perfect complement to the Astrophysics module of the HSC syllabus.
Duration: 1 hour
Minimum: 10 students
Maximum: 120 students
Cost: $8 per student / $6 per student for groups over 20
Relativity (Years 11-12)
Discover a universe where your legs get shorter and fatter when you drive fast, and travelling to Perth will make you longer. Relativity was born one hundred years ago as Einstein revolutionised the universe we thought we knew in a single year.
This course explains relativity with no equations or maths required.
Duration: 1 hour
Minimum: 10 students
Maximum: 120 students
Cost: $8 per student / $6 per student for groups over 20
The Science and Engineering Challenge
Presented by the University of Sydney, School of Physics and Belrose Rotary Club
The Science and Engineering Challenge is a riveting day of science fun for students studying up to Year 10. In small teams, students have to solve practical and fun challenges. These include as building a buggy to navigate a course through bumpy terrain, cracking codes, solving a virtual maze, predicting the path of a bouncing ball, building a bridge or making a chair that will hold a certain weight.
Not only do the students have a great time, but teachers see their students working in a different context. Teachers have reported significant and lasting positive effects on their students’ attitudes to science and technology.
Winners of the Peninsula Challenge will go on to compete for places in the Grand Challenge in late 2010.
There are limited places, so get your application in as soon as possible.
Date: Fri 26 March 2010 2009
Contact: Gavin Ralston or Adam Selinger
Phone: (02) 9452 4666 or (02) 9351 3622
Cost: Free!
The Nobel Prize for Physics Talk
We've all heard of the Nobel Prizes, but what are they awarded for? This illustrated talk explains the 2009 Nobel prize for Physics in layperson's terms.
Date: August 2010
Contact: Phil Dooley
Phone: (02) 9351 3201
Email:
Geoscience activities
Students will experience geosciences first hand, finding out how our amazing earth works and how interactions between humans and the environment we live in affect the world as we know it. These hands on geosciences workshops can focus on either geology or geography, depending on your requirements. Suitable for students from year 7-12.
Duration: 1hr
Minimum: 10 students
Maximum: 30 students
Cost: $8 per student (GST free)
Activities in Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
Agriculture is much more than fields and tractors! The Faculty is involved in a range of fascinating topics spanning science and economic disciplines. Students have the opportunity to expand their understanding of today’s big issues such as carbon management, food security and use of the world’s natural resources.
The Faculty provides a range of fun hands-on workshops and talks related to general and agricultural science including plant biology, soil science, food chemistry and economics. The Faculty can arrange a staff member to visit your school, or for the University experience, schools can visit us on campus. Workshops can be tailored for primary or high school students. Additional opportunities include a laboratory tour and introduction to our research.
The Chocolate Workshop
We all love chocolate, but do we really know where it comes from? This delicious food science workshop takes students on a sensory exploration of cocoa! Depending on the audience, the workshop can be adjusted to include elements of biology, economics, social sciences and environmental science.
Catch the Robber!
Trace the steps of the thief using forensic soil techniques. This exciting, interactive workshop will show students how to make their own pH test kit and then use it to identify the culprit and solve the crime!
Plant Science
Find out why plants are the powerhouses of the plant. Students explore the diversity of plants and learn about the recent advances in plant biotechnology. You will have the opportunity to perform hands-on experiments including DNA extraction.
Duration: All workshops are 45 minutes
Minimum: 10 students
Maximum: 30 students
Cost: $8/student
For all Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources activities:
Contact: Dr Lucy Buxton
Phone: (02) 9351 7368
Email:
Activities in Design Computing
For schools in the Sydney metropolitan area, we can arrange for Senior Undergraduate Design Computing students to visit your school and talk about careers, studying design computing at Sydney Uni and other topics of interest to your students.
Contact: Jonathan Hulme
Phone: (02) 9351 2686
Fax: (02) 9351 5665
Email:
Activities in Engineering
For schools in the Sydney metropolitan area, we can arrange for Senior Undergraduate Engineering students to visit your school and talk about careers, studying engineering at the University of Sydney and other topics of interest to your students. Advanced Engineering students can visit schools within the Sydney metropolitan area to do demonstrations for Year 10 students.
Contact: Trish Di-Masi
Phone: (02) 9351 2131
Fax: (02) 9351 4654
Email:
Activities in IT
National Computer Science School 2011
The National Computer Science School brings together talented young people for an intensive week of computer programming, web design and related activities at the School of IT (Faculty of Engineering), University of Sydney. NCSS is a residential school and open to all students in Australia in their penultimate high school year.
NO PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED.
Dates: 2 - 11 January 2011
Email:
Website: http://www.ncss.edu.au
NCSS Challenge 2010
The NCSS Challenge is a five week programming competition designed to educate participants about computer science. The Challenge involves participants solving interesting but simplified computational tasks. Unlike existing competitions, the Challenge is designed to cater for both beginners and advanced students. The Challenge will be particularly valuable for science students, mathematics students and computing studies students.
NO PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED.
Dates: 2 August – 13 September 2010
Email:
Website: http://challenge.ncss.edu.au
Cost: $15 per participant (incl. GST)
Girls’ Programming Network 2010
The Girls’ Programming Network (GPN) is a programming club for high school girls interested in learning and/or improving their computing skills.
GPN is a unique opportunity to meet other females with similar interests, find a mentor and learn about university life from female university students. The program has been developed and run by female IT students - under the guidance of academics at the University of Sydney.
Dates: One all-day introductory meeting during school holidays followed by five fortnightly meetings one afternoon a week after school.
Exact dates TBC. See website for more details.
Email:
Website: www.ncss.edu.au
Cost: $55 per participant per term (incl. GST)
Enquiries for all IT activities:
Contact: Wei-ying Ho
Phone: (02) 9351 4917
Fax: (02) 9351 3838
Email:
Hands-on Microscopy
Come and explore the world of microscopy at the Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis. These visits support your class work by providing Year 11 and 12 students with hands-on experience of electron and light microscopy, the chance to see demonstrations of specimen preparation and hear all about the historical development of microscopes. They can explore a diverse range of microscopic samples in ways not possible at school. Our highly experienced staff make this an engaging and memorable experience.
Each visit lasts for 1hr 45mins and can accept up to 35 students. Sessions are scheduled throughout the day to accommodate as many groups as possible. Please contact Ian Kaplin with your preferred time slot or to get more information.
Dates: Wednesday 23 June and Thursday 24 June 2010
Cost: $10 per student
Contact: Ian Kaplin
Phone: (02) 9351 3302
Email:
Website: www.emu.usyd.edu.au
Museum activities
Nicholson Museum
The Nicholson Museum is the largest antiquities museum in Australia with a collection of objects from Egypt, the Middle East, Greece, Italy and Europe. The museum is open to the public, in addition to functioning as a teaching collection for the Department of Archaeology. The museum has a full-time conservator who works with the objects and alongside archaeology students who are studying ancient materials, technologies and manufacturing processes.
Visits to the Nicholson Museum which focus on science in archaeology and involve a tour of the conservation laboratory can be organised.
Contact: Dr Craig Barker
Phone: (02) 9036 5409 (enquiries) / (02) 9351 8746 (bookings)
Cost: General Admission - free
2 hour tour (including hands-on) $13/student
3 hour tour (including hands-on) $16.50/student
All prices include GST
Website: www.usyd.edu.au/museums/about/nicholson
Shellshear Museum
The Shellshear Museum is the only museum dedicated to physical anthropology in Australia and holds collections of human skeletons, other primate skeletons, vertebrate skeletons and casts for the study of human evolution. The museum is open to school groups, in addition to functioning as a teaching collection for the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology and research collections for bona fide researchers.
Research in the Museum focuses on human osteology, particularly in the areas of forensic anthropology and forensic dental anatomy, burial practices and dietary analysis of bone.
Contact: Dr Denise Donlon
Phone: (02) 9351 4529
Email:
Duration: 1.5 hours
Maximum: 20 students
Cost: $8/student (GST free)
Website: www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/museums/shellshear
Macleay Museum
The Macleay Museum is a museum of natural history, ethnography and the history of science. Its significant collections, based on the original donation in the 1880s by William John Macleay and later additions, are important for the purposes of historic research and teaching. The Museum offers programs for school visits which focus on various syllabus topics, including science (especially biology and scientific history), history and Aboriginal studies.
Contact: Dr Craig Barker
Phone: (02) 9036 5409 (enquiries) / (02) 9351 8746 (bookings)
Cost: General Admission - free
2 hour tour (including hands-on)
$13/student (including GST)
3 hour tour (including hands-on)
$16.50/student (including GST)
Website: www.usyd.edu.au/museums/about/macleay