Island science
- Jo Lockwood, Hamilton Island State School
- Kostas Alexandridis, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
When the Scientists in Schools team received the registration from the 50-student Hamilton Island State School, they knew that finding a match would present an interesting challenge. On the one hand, there aren’t many scientists living on the beautiful, tropical island in the Whitsunday group north-east of Mackay in central Queensland.
On the other hand, what scientist could resist being partnered with an island getaway?
Jo Lockwood, the principal at Hamilton Island, registered for Scientists in Schools very early on. Because of their location they were particularly interested in marine science and reef ecology related to the environmental impacts of tourism.
The Scientists in Schools team thought Kostas Alexandridis would make a great match. Kostas is a research scientist based in Townsville at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems. He uses mathematical models of human-biophysical systems to understand how communities affect and interact with their environment – a great match for Hamilton Island SS, which has applied to become a reef guardian school.
In his registration, Kostas requested a school in Townsville, but it only took a tiny bit of convincing when he heard about the opportunity to visit Hamilton Island as part of Scientists in Schools.
The benefits of travel have also flowed in the other direction. In late November 2007, all ten Year 5/6/7 students visited Kostas in Townsville.
During their trip, the students visited CSIRO’s Davies Laboratory where they had the opportunity to talk and question a number of scientists from different scientific disciplines. They developed an insight into issues such as connectivity, societies, physical environment and wildlife, all within the realm of environmental science and its complexity.
The students also visited James Cook University to perform a hands-on science experiment, and Reef HQ (the National Education Centre for the Great Barrier Reef).
Jo says that the kids loved the trip and were excited by the science they encountered, and Jo says she too has been energised by her collaboration with Kostas.
Kostas also found the interaction with Jo and the children to be an intellectually exciting and empowering experience that provided the opportunity to integrate scientific thinking into the thoughts and minds of young Australians. He was really impressed with the quality of the students’ questions and their capacity to understand and tackle difficult scientific concepts.
Kostas, Jo and the students are all looking forward to continuing and developing the partnership further.
