Students at a Stawell secondary school have an opportunity to join an exploration of subatomic physics as Australian scientists venture up the Western Highway. 

The National Quantum and Dark Matter Road Trip will visit Stawell this month as part of a 7000-kilometre, 19-day program. 

Coinciding with National Science Week, from August 13 to 21, a team of scientists and science communicators from national research centres within the quantum physics and dark matter fields will visit Stawell Secondary College to inspire the next generation of Australian scientists. 

Teacher Emma Gibson said with some of the touring scientists visiting the school this month, it was another opportunity to get younger students curious about dark matter and the universe. 

“Science is popular with our students and we have a very strong cohort selecting science subjects,” she said. “Science is something we have been promoting heavily here and we have a great bunch of teachers in this space doing some great work, too. 

“With the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory on our doorstep, a question-and-answer session between some of the dark matter scientists and our year sevens, as part of the road trip, will be very exciting.”

Science students Kayan Barnes, Isaiah Taylor and AJ Logan said a future career in sciences was a ‘real possibility’.  

Kayan said he was finding his studies in science enjoyable and he was looking forward to the road trip.

Isaiah said he was particularly excited to learn more about how the planets and stars were formed, while AJ said she was really ‘into’ space and planned to take any available opportunity to learn more about the solar system. 

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