A time for celebration

NXplorers students in Australia ended their programme on a high with a live NXplorers showcase event at the Scitech Discovery Centre in Perth. Over 210 students, teachers and parents came together in October to celebrate the hard work of these students who have shown great determination during this challenging year. Students thrilled audiences with their showcase of amazing ideas, with live presentations, poster displays and prototype designs. They were also given the opportunity to see a planetarium show and explore the science centre where the event was hosted.

Pictured: NXplorers students read out a rap they had written to advertise their project

Building a sustainable future with our inspiring student projects

The Artists team from Butler College, had used their creativity and ingenuity to form a solution to the question ‘what other materials can we use instead of plastic for packaging?’. Students enthusiastically presented their plant pots made of biodegradable materials (pictured below) and showed great entrepreneurial spirit by creating their own logo design and Instagram page, which they used to educate people about plastic pollution and promote beach clean ups around their local area.

“We really enjoyed being able to contribute to the world and do something that solves problems. The hardest thing was making the containers, we failed the first few times until we got it to work. We used corn starch, oil, water and fabric to make cornstarch containers. We’re using them as pot plants, and we don’t have to worry about replanting as they’ll decompose.”
Student from The Artists team

Another impressive team of students identified that their local wetland wasn’t doing its job, as no animals were migrating there. Their innovative solution was to provide a better habitat for animals by installing native plants and bat and bird boxes. They went above and beyond for their project, by spending extra time cleaning the wetland of litter and taking their own water quality samples to understand more about the environment they were working in.

“We really enjoyed actually implementing our plan and seeing the difference we had made afterwards.”

Team McJJLY Lynwood SHS

“One of our students is usually very quiet and anxious about talking to people, and she told the teacher that she had gone and spoken to 12 new people that night. Both the student and teacher were really proud of her development in communication skills”

NXplorers facilitator

Pictured: student team presenting their project called ‘Creating a better world, one potato at a time’

Facilitator testimonials

“The best thing for me was to see the students talking to their peers, teachers, parents and Scitech and Shell representatives about their projects. I love to see their passion about their projects and how so many have turned them into a reality. It encourages me to continue to strive to inspire other students in our workshops each year. I can’t wait to see what our next groups do at our next showcase in December!”

Nadene Claydon, NXplorers Coordinator, Scitech