Programs inspire students for a career in science

They are all activities in outreach programs offered each year to high school students by Deakin University’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences.

In the Forensic Detective program, Year 9 and 10 students are taken to a ‘murder’ scene in Deakin’s Crime Scene House at the Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus. Guided by a forensic scientist, the students look for evidence to try and solve the ‘crime’. 

It’s then on to the laboratory to analyse the evidence found at the scene. Here the students compare DNA profiles, examine fingerprints, look at different blood spatter patterns, perform blood and drug tests, investigate handwriting styles, and analyse different hair and insect evidence.

At the completion of the lab session the students are debriefed by a forensic scientist and find out ‘who dunnit’. Students also get the chance to have a Q&A with our Forensic Science Team, and are informed about all the different disciplines and career paths that forensic science can lead to.

At Deakin’s Melbourne Burwood Campus, the school runs a one-week Science Work Experience Program for high-achieving Year 10 students interested in a career in laboratory science.

Activities include a microbiological and molecular practical program, making ice cream, looking at the effects of pH and temperature when dissolving an effervescent vitamin tablet, identifying vertebrates from skulls and skeletons, ecological survey techniques and a field exercise using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. A ‘Career Choices’ workshop is also included in the program.

The outreach programs are designed to show how exciting a career in science can be and, judging from the positive feedback both regularly receive from participating students, they do just that!

Please contact us if you would like more information.