News Archive

Forget reading, writing and arithmetic - five bright high school students are light years away from such mundane subjects.

A group of 14- and 15 year-old Shenton College girls were stars on the world stage recently when they attended the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition for a week of science and cultural events - and a snowball battle and 25-course banquet.

They were judged the most successful international team - with three gold and two silver medals - and were seen to demonstrate what the competition was all about: a high level of achievement, cultural exchange and togetherness.

The students, who were mentored by UWA staff, went to the Chinese capital with Shenton College science teacher, Warwick Matthews .

Their passion for science was ignited by UWA researchers in the fields of muscular dystrophy, plant genetics, grape-growing, the Square Kilometre Array and earthquakes.

Winthrop Professors Sue Fletcher and Steve Wilton (Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders); Associate Professor Matthew Nelson (School of Plant Biology); Associate Professor Michael Considine (School of Plant Biology, Institute of Agriculture); Winthrop Professor Lister Stavely-Smith (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research); and Winthrop Professor Mike Dentith (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences) gave up their time to share their enthusiasm and expertise with the Shenton College students.

Shenton College student Sarah Barnes' presentation to the big audience in Beijing was about finding the genetic spelling errors which result in Duchene Muscular Dystrophy.

Eemali-Anne McDonald talked about trying to identify the gene which results in white or blue lupin flowers and Ellie-Rose Rogers shared her experience of the effects of sulphur dioxide on grapes. Daisy Evan's presentation was about her investigation of how the SKA will be able to detect galaxies in the distant universe while Sarah Effler  examined the causes of intraplate earthquake activity.

Other teams were from China, Denmark, Korea, the USA, Singapore, France, the Ukraine, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy and South Africa, with other Australian teams from Perth and Port Hedland.