PhD candidates from the Functional Grains Centre took on the role of science mentors in the ‘My Science’ program at Mater Dei Primary School in Wagga Wagga.

Ms Annie Riaz reflects on the experience.

I volunteered, along with fellow FGC PhD candidates Ms Esther Callcott, Mr Stephen Cork, Ms Shiwangni Rao and Ms Michelle Toutounji, to work as a mentor for year 5 students undertaking a scientific investigation.

The theme was the use of renewable energy (sun, wind, water) resources for power generation. We helped the children carry out their experiment in a scientific way during three 90-minute sessions.

In the first session, the children planned their experiment by brainstorming different ideas with the mentors before designing an experiment based on a hypothesis. The second session was more exciting both for the mentors and the school students. It was all about practically performing the experiment and collecting data. The third session involved helping the children analyse and present their data in a scientific manner.

The event culminated in a science fair that was an outstanding platform for the primary school students to present their scientific work in front of parents and school community.

The students put in a lot of effort to present their very first scientific work and were eager to show and explain it. This event was also covered by a local news channel. Overall it was a great learning experience, not only for the children only but also for the mentors.