Children of all ages are invited to get hands-on with STEM these school holidays, with a range of interactive workshops available at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Lucas Heights.
The ANSTO Discovery Centre’s school holiday workshops over January will allow children aged 6 – 14 years to explore everything from robotics, 3D printing, video editing, and making their own video game.
Discovery Centre Leader, Rod Dowler said it’s never too early for buddying scientists and engineers to get inspired about their future possibilities.
“The school holiday workshops are a great opportunity for young students and curious minds to learn new and fun things about science and technology, and broaden their understanding outside of the classroom,” Mr Dowler said.
“Science and technology doesn’t always have to be in textbooks or behind glass displays. These workshops offer an engaging and valuable insight into just how hands-on, creative, and useful STEM subjects can be.
“Each workshop is delivered by accredited teachers in science, engineering, programming, and robotics, so it’s a great chance for kids to spend a day with the experts and ask all theburning questions about science.”
Robotics workshops will step kids into a world of algorithms and coding, get them building their own robots out of Lego, and inspiring their creativity with design challenges.
For children interested in understanding how 3D printing works, these workshops will guide them through the basics of 3D design and printing so they can make their own custom name tags, 3D characters, and other objects.
Aspiring content creators and film editors can learn all about video editing processes and software with the help of a professional videographer, so they can cut together footage with audio and text, and apply special effects like green screen.
Those with a nostalgic love of retro arcade games can also learn the basics of game design and make their own video arcade game.
“Anyone of all ages is invited to come along to the Discovery Centre these school holidays to find out more about the amazing wonders of science,” Mr Dowler said.
“We’ll be running our Science Discovery Tours for people aged over 13 years to give an in depth look into the world of nuclear science.
“Our Up and Atom Tours also gives primary-aged students and their parents an introductory and interactive experience with games and experiments, so they can learn about the basics of nuclear science.”
Bookings are essential and numbers for workshops and tours are limited. For information on how to book, visit ansto.gov.au/whats-on