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Thursday, 16 August 2012

Water rockets, painting and cane toads will feature in three school student programs to be presented in the Kimberley this month by The University of Western Australia.

Artist-in residence Angela Rossen, from UWA's Oceans Institute, will lead a week-long art workshop for Kununurra District High School year 7 students to explore and record the region's remarkable wetlands biodiversity.  Students will create a painting to hang in the school as a permanent reminder of the Kimberley's rich environment.  Their work will be assisted by staff from the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Kimberley high school students will also meet staff from Aspire UWA - a partnership between the University and selected WA schools to raise awareness of tertiary study options and encourage students with academic potential to aspire to university, regardless of their circumstances.  Aspire UWA staff will run school-based activities using water rockets to demonstrate scientific principles.

And Kimberley school teachers will benefit from visits by staff from SPICE - a secondary teachers' enrichment program that offers professional development to science teachers with new curriculum resources and opportunities to interact with leading scientists, science educators and multimedia developers.

SPICE staff will visit Kimberley schools to deliver professional learning workshops in a range of curriculum areas and introduce a new SPICE resource for the Australian Curriculum (Science) Year 7.  It uses Kimberley plants and animals to explore food chains and webs, and enable students to learn how advancing cane toads may affect the local environment and residents.

The week's activities will culminate at Kununurra District High School on Friday August 31 with the unveiling of the new artwork and official release of the SPICE curriculum resource.

Angela's workshop is supported by Aspire UWA, the SPICE program (The University of Western Australia and Department of Education Western Australia) and the Graduate School of Education.

Media references

Angela Rossen (+61 8)  9337 4183  /  (+61 4) 39 901 362
Jo Elliott (Aspire UWA)  (+61 8)  6488 6855
Dr Michael Wheatley (Centre for Learning Technology, SPICE program)  (+61 8)  6488 3917
Rod Baker (Principal, Kununurra District High School)  (+61 8)  9168 4400
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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