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Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Twenty seven teachers from around Western Australia and a scholarship teacher from South Australia attended the annual Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) Teacher Professional Development event last November with the theme being “The Science of Food and Fibre Security”.

Winthrop Professor Wallace Cowling opened the session and stressed the importance of educating young people to ensure that future generations can solve the problems of food and fibre shortages given the world’s rapidly growing population.

PICSE is the largest outreach program within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UWA. Each year, it works with more than 3,000 teachers and students to promote primary industries through science education.

The main goal of PICSE is to fill the growing labour shortages in primary industries by providing students and teachers with up-to-date knowledge, cutting-edge research and the promotion of career opportunities in these fields.
This year’s PD was a jam-packed, two-day event with activities and presentations from UWA researchers and industry organisations such as the Department of Agriculture and Food WA and CBH Grains. Each session was designed to provide teachers with interesting information that could be taken back to the classroom.

Following the first day’s sessions, the teachers went to Mosmans Restaurant for a night of networking and a fantastic locally-grown menu. The teachers were joined by Rob Delane, DAFWA’s Director General, who spoke of the great work PICSE is doing regarding food and fibre security as well as the important role that teachers play.

PICSE is a national program that started in Tasmania in 2001. The UWA activity centre was formed two years later and the number of students and teachers participating is growing each year.

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