Students from the Manning region were among the 230 participants at the Science and Engineering Challenge today at the Taree racecourse.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Seven teams took part in the event, with students from Taree High School, Wingham High School, Chatham High School, St Clare's High School, Great Lakes College, along with two teams from Gloucester High School.
The event is typically for students in year nine and 10, however for the first time this year, some of last year’s Discovery Day winners, from Gloucester Public School students were invited.
The students, who are now in year seven at GHS, were set the challenge of taking on the older students.
“The aim for all the other schools, is to not come out behind the Gloucester seven’s,” event organiser, John Walton said.
Students had to tackle seven different activities, across the seven teams, throughout the day.
Activities ranged from making a table and chair out of paddle pop sticks, cardboard and straws that could support weight; supplying a city with electricity without blowing a fuse and creating a coding in order to send a message to their teams that could be transmitted using lights and translated.
Everything they created was tested and given a point score.
The University of Newcastle program began in 2000, as a way of addressing the skills shortage in science and engineering by engaging young people to study mathematics, physics and chemistry.