Outback and beyond: the Road Trip electrifying the next generation of STEM stars

As part of the National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip, the group of 18 scientists is spending 27 days travelling 8095 kilometres and visiting 29 cities and towns, swooping on regional and remote schools and communities and hosting science pub trivia quizzes as they go.

“The main goal is not to be teaching them science content, although that’s nice if you can do that,” Swinburne Institute of Technology physicist Ben McAllister says.

“The main goal is about inspiring the next generation of scientists and letting them know there is really awesome, cutting-edge research in these fields going on in Australia.”

The group began their epic quest in Brisbane on August 4, ahead of National Science Week, and will end in Broome, WA on August 19, after crossing Queensland and the NT.

Starting with a pilot in 2021, Senior Outreach and Public Education Manager Jackie Bondell says the Road Trip really sparked into life out of a genuine want on the part of scientists to share their enthusiasm outside of their laboratories and lecture theatres.

“As scientists, we’re all very excited about the work that we do, and feel that we’re in a privileged position of being able to learn about the world for our work, and that there’s a lot of groups that just are traditionally underserved in their access to cutting edge STEM programs, and STEM information,” Bondell tells EducationHQ.

“So it just started from trying to bridge that gap and trying to find more connections between spreading the message of the science that we just all love to share.”

While naturally covering lessons on dark matter and quantum science with a range of demos, the incursions are more about hands-on, small group activities and lighting imaginations.

“The idea is to make them very interactive, and so much depends on the school’s schedule as well,” Bondell says.

“So if they have, say, five Year 9 classes that they’d love us to work with, well then that’s going to look different than if we have one group of students that are across multiple year levels.

“We have multiple lessons, multiple scaffolded activities that we do based on the level of the student, the number of students, even the setup of the classroom, whether they’re setting it up like a lecture or something more interactive.”

Jackie Bondell says the young scientists involved in the Road Trip enjoy finding a way to connect what they're so passionate about with the public, and especially with school students, and to come up with ways to create that enthusiasm and bring them along for the ride.

The Road Trip aims to be really flexible in getting students thinking about some of the things that are either very hard to learn about, or very small, and get them thinking about scale and the scientific process.

“So it’s very interactive, very inquiry based – it’s not a one direction lecture, it’s designed with the students at the core,” Bondell explains.

Rural or remote schools generally don’t have the capacity to take students to more metro areas for science excursions or visits, and so the kids are generally very appreciative.

“For the most part we get very good feedback from the students that it was fun and interesting,” Bondell says.

“Some of the more senior physics students have especially taken the time to talk to our road trip teams, and just ask deeper questions, and get really probing into some of these things.”

Bondell says, importantly, the group has received a really positive response based on its diverse make-up.

“So we have a lot of female scientists on the trip, and we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from female students about how much they appreciate seeing those female role models.”

Debbie Bailey is principal of Bulla Camp School in Baines, a NT community more than 400 kilometres south of Darwin near the WA border.

With just 11 primary students, she says the cohort is always excited to have visitors at the school, which doesn’t happen very often.

“We’re a long way from anything and we don’t have hotels and motels on our doorstep,” Bailey says.

“Being willing to travel the distance and involve the students at the school, even if it’s only one student that it sparks interest in, it’s well worth it.”

The Road Trips are hugely popular with their young presenters, which are always a diverse mix. “… it's become very popular with our scientists. I think, from their feedback, that it helps them to find added relevance in their work,” Bondell says.

Bailey says the students love learning about science, especially when they get to do hands-on experiments.

“Anything to do with making slime or mixing things together or having them change colour, the kids love it,” she says.

“Being able to physically touch and feel and see and even taste and smell different things and being able to explain how that happened.”

Bondell spent 15 years as a science teacher in US schools and works within two research groups in programs in schools and partnerships with schools, and says teaching science these days, as with all subject areas, is a tough gig.

“I spend a lot of time in classrooms and working with teachers, and the first thing is that teachers are unfortunately, woefully time poor – they’re being asked to do too much with too little time, and that does have an impact on their ability to be able to find these ways to bring new science topics, new connections to the curriculum,” she laments.

“It’s not that they’re not interested, they just are really at capacity, and I think that’s where groups like ours come in.

“In addition to what we do with the road trip, we run teacher professional development workshops, we create lessons, we create activities, interactives, all these things to try to help teachers, and to try to meet some of their needs.”

Bondell says while science teachers are very enthusiastic about what they’re doing, they often don’t have the time and money support to do the training that they need to do.

“And class sizes can be very big, behaviour management is always an issue.

“Teachers have the hardest job in the world and there needs to be more support...

“We’re just trying to do our one little piece, and trying to create some opportunities that are unique, support their learning goals, and create something memorable for their students.”

Click here to learn more about the National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip.

For more info on teacher professional development through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, click here.