I absolutely loved the visit to the Cochlear factory
The 2014 Sydney Next Step program ran in early July this year and 74 students attended over the course of the three days of the program. Visits were made to partner organisations Cochlear, Orica, ANSTO, the University of Western Sydney – Campbelltown and Richmond campuses, and the University of New South Wales.
True to its aim of showing students real-life experiences of science, technology and engineering study and careers, the Next Step Sydney visits provided insights and examples of what they could expect in the coming years if they chose to attend these universities and work in these kinds of fields.
At Orica’s Water Treatment Plant, students visited the various parts of the facility before doing a hands-on water filtration activity. Student comments included:
A very interesting and fascinating presentation. Really enjoyed the tour and titration was great.
Engineers are quite different from scientists.
I learned about ... the actual role of a chemical engineer, which was really helpful.
At the Cochlear factory and research facility on Sydney’s north shore, the students gowned up and were shown through the factory to learn about the very specific and detailed work that is involved in making the Cochlear products.
I absolutely loved the visit to the Cochlear factory. … I particularly loved hearing from the engineer who was one of the first to develop the cochlear implant; it was incredible to be able to see the continuous development that has been going on but also to be able to understand the origins of the project and to see the way that the concept was developed into a reality.
I learned … how many different types of scientists and engineers are involved in the development and production of bio-medical technologies.
Visiting the ANSTO Discovery Centre is always popular with NYSF students, and this year was no different. The tour through the OPAL reactor was regarded a highlight, as was the opportunity to speak to the scientists working there.
It was wonderful to see the incredible work ANTSO is doing. Was very interesting to learn just how much of an impact this organisation has on our everyday lives, and how their work is extremely beneficial to Australians and those all over the world.
I was very excited to visit ANSTO as I had been there before with school, however the tour and presentation they gave us was definitely more interesting and engaging than the one I had heard before. I really enjoyed having tour guides who were so knowledgeable and were able to answer all of our detailed questions about the reactor and what they do there. I especially loved how much passion all the staff had and their friendly nature as it made the experience personal and therefore more enjoyable.
The visit to the University of Western Sydney was divided into two sections. In the morning, students visited the Campbelltown campus and toured the anatomy, physiotherapy and nanotechnology departments.
There is some wonderful work going on at UWS; especially in the nanotechnolgy and imaging laboratory. I was astounded as to how numbers and figures can translate into knowledge expansion and, in turn, result in a more informed scientific generation. Witnessing first hand how they image particle movement is something I would never dream of having clearance to back in rural Queensland. The anatomy lab visit took me to a whole new world, one that I could never experience in my own biology class. We learnt from scientists that were specialists in that area specifically how the body is structured to function perfectly. We found the intense passion they held is what we all desire, which really relit a spark of inspiration within all of us.
It was an incredible opportunity to be exposed to an anatomy lab so early on. It was an experience that would definitely never have been open to us if we had not attended NYSF, which makes me even more grateful for all that the NYSF has done for me and all of us year 12 students.
In the afternoon of the second day of the program, the students travelled to the Richmond campus, visiting the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environmental Sciences, organised on behalf of NYSF Partner, the Grains R&D Corporation.
It takes a lot of work to monitor and learn more about the environment! You have to be so careful of so many factors that can influence the environment.
I found a lot of the experiments and projects extremely interesting and discovered that while it may not be the area of science I want to be in, I am really interested by the research that is going on in this area.
I learnt a lot about environmental research being undertaken. I never knew it was so comprehensive - the amount of research that is going into climate change.
A full day at the University of New South Wales rounded off the Sydney Next Step, with visits to a wide range of science and engineering labs and facilities as well as talks from UNSW Student Ambassadors.
The students were really interesting and spoke eloquently and all the lab visits were awesome! Biomed was good because we had hands-on work rather than just talking. Medicine was good because the student speaker organised his information well so he was easy to listen to, but I found the whole process of medicine, even though I already knew lots about it, more daunting after listening to how difficult it is to get in the UNSW medicine. Psychology was absolutely amazing because the speaker made me thing about new concepts and got me even more interested in psychology.
The lab visits like Chemistry and Civil engineering were extremely good and I loved how we were told a little about the department and careers in that area but also go to do some hands-on activities. It was much more engaging and interesting.