The triple S Collaborative Group was established in 1997 in response to a perceived need to address a gap in students' knowledge of science and technology. The Group consists of representatives from each of the four Western Australian public universities, Scitech Discovery Centre. The Education Department of Western Australia (EDWA), The Science Teacher's Association of Western Australia (STAWA) and the Department of Commerce and Trade's Science and Technology Division. triple S stands for Science for School Students.
The prime function of triple S is to present excellent, free, exciting Science Fairs, open to the general public, that successfully appeal to school students. The Science Fairs are held three times a year, at different school locations throughout the Perth metropolitan area. The audiences they attract return very favourable comments, such as "The science fair is really cool"; "It was great that everything was hands on"; "Have more science fairs!" "Can't wait to go to another one"; "Everyone was really friendly"; "Wonderful for stimulating my children’s interest in science".
Australia needs more well-educated and committed scientists for this nation to be the best that it can be. The primary target group of the Fairs is Year 10 students because the Group wants to interest those students who are making their choices for upper school. triple S works from the premise that if students know more about the breadth depth and centrality of science and technology, they will consider choosing science and maths in upper secondary school and in turn keep their options open a wide choice of tertiary education paths, giving Australia a bigger pool of potential scientific achievers.
One of the key aims of triple S is to encourage more girls to choose science. However, female and male students of all ages are interested and excited by the fascinating hands-on science activities and the opportunity to interact with enthusiastic science students and working scientists, who can say what science is really like - that it's fun!
The
Science Fair differs in purpose from a careers night - the focus is on
science, so that students can see some connection between what they are
studying at school and what they can study at university - with the chance to
talk to passionate people actually working in different fields of science and
technology. The term 'science' is used as a broad umbrella and
displays range from
Anatomy to Zoology. Some of the other contributors are the Perth Zoo
with a fascinating display of termite-breeding for marsupial meals and the
Scitech Discovery Centre's display which gets the participating audience
thinking while they're enjoying fun activities.
To see photos of Fair activities, check the triple S web-site, where you'll also find contact information: http://tripleS.ecu.edu.au
