School’s STEM talent shines

Newton Moore Senior High School continues to punch above its weight in STEM subjects, with students from the Bunbury school again qualifying for and competing in the Australian Science Fair.

Earlier this year, the school opened its dedicated STEM centre, with students already reaping the rewards of the specialist space with success in several competitions.

A group of students travelled to Melbourne last year for the first-ever edition of the event after being chosen by the Department of Education to represent the State.

“We were selected because of the amazing work the students and staff do in our science programs,” head of science Lorraine Ellis said.

“We have achieved some really high results and one of the main things is we have an annual STEM fair which is really well attended and the students showcase their research and that’s basically the model of what the Australian Science Fair is.

“We have been doing that for 11 years now... it was pretty easy to select a couple of students for their work.

“It worked out really well this year because students do their research as part of their science curriculum so when the virus hit this year students still went ahead and did their research.

“Then when we realised we were invited to the online science fair, it was pretty easy to select a couple of students from their work.”

Students made a presentation and answered questions on their research digitally, interacting with like-minded students across the country.

Student research included a test of the effectiveness of different shade cloth materials and a comparison of the lung capacity of asthmatics with the rest of the population.