News Archive

Creating engaging exhibits to explain complex science concepts was the challenge facing students enrolled in Science Communication – Displays and Exhibits last semester.

And they did it with style.

Armed with their communication skills and financial support to cover professional graphic design and production, the students worked with local organisations to better spread their science messages.

The students were responsible for analysing the organisations’ needs, coming up with ideas and then creating and installing the exhibits onsite.

“We want to excite people about science,” explains Roger Harris, the Centre Manager of the WA Gould League, who asked the team to create a frog exhibit at the League’s Herdsman Lake facility.

“The students brought fresh ideas and designed a terrific interactive display which is engaging and foolproof”.

Roger and his board were impressed at how the students managed to incorporate the style of other displays at the centre into the new exhibit, giving a sense of continuity.

“I hope to get the students back next year to create a bird exhibit for us upstairs,” Roger says.

Another team of science communication students faced a very different task – creating a mobile exhibition for ICRAR, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

“We needed a display to highlight our different areas of research, which could be easily moved to different locations,” explains Pete Wheeler, ICRAR’s Outreach and Education Manager.

“I’m always keen to incorporate the ideas of others and experiment with what we’re doing to help us stand out from the crowd. This project allowed us to create something unique that would never have existed without the help of these science communication students.”

The final ICRAR display created by the students has been on show at UWA and Curtin University.

While the work done by the students offers a valuable service to local organisations, it also provides them with an ideal learning experience.

“It was most rewarding to see our hard work up on the wall, displayed to the public, as opposed to being marked and thrown in the bottom drawer never to be seen again,” explains Cassandra Rowles, who worked on the frog exhibit now permanently on display at Herdsman Lake.

If you have a tired, outdated display that needs a fresh new look for 2011 and a modest budget to support production, contact Associate Professor Nancy Longnecker, the Coordinator of the Science Communication Program, in the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences.