Of course you still go around the centre and you see one or two youngsters clicking away on their mobile phones, but generally they are charging around, engaged with what's going on and what we are offering them, and I think from that I take great comfort in the fact that we are creating something that is relevant, that's useful, it's authentic in so far as we are offering real phenomena that they can interact with, and I think that's important.
Bob Hawke: Our bicentenary has provided a magnificent opportunity, not only for celebration but for more enduring achievements which long after has entered the history books will be appreciated by future generations of Australians. The National Science and Technology Centre is just such a project; innovative, important and enduring. Robyn Williams: What about the fact that while all this is going on, both what you do, the science centres do around the country, and also the internet which we've mentioned, the standards seem to be slipping, those famous league tables we see in the papers every now and then, how young people's, comparatively speaking, performance is going down.
Graham Durant: Yes, it is a cause for concern, I'll use the word deliberately, it is a cause for concern because we want youngsters to have the best opportunities they can to be the best they can be. But there are many factors that influence how people learn. So learning to learn I think is the critical key, and what schools really should be focusing on is training people to think and giving them that love of learning, because a lot of the other stuff, the knowledge stuff, although it's important as a foundation for future learning, nevertheless it fills the curriculum up and we end up training people to pass exams and we are not really giving the youngsters the skills that they need alongside the knowledge that they need, the foundation knowledge.
You also need job pull, and the job pull is a bit of a problem. And although we get report after report saying we need more STEM graduates in certain disciplines, actually the jobs are hard to find for recent graduates. And once you get into a career you can build it, but it's not easy. So it's not very attractive for youngsters to put in all the effort.
And to actually learn science, technology, engineering, maths, medicine, it's hard work. Work requires motivation, so in some cases it could be a 'tiger mother' encouraging a youngster to keep going for different reasons, or it could be a teacher really inspiring the youngsters to get going or a family member, or it could be job pull. But generally the job pull I think is the weaker part of the equation at the moment. Robyn Williams: , you celebrate…I suppose the actual date is in November, how are you going to celebrate, what are you going to do, how are you going to change?
Graham Durant: Well, at 30 years it's a great time to reflect on everything that has been achieved to date and to reset the organisation for the next 30 years. So what we are going to do is firstly acknowledge the work to date, the contributions of the various founders, the Japanese government and business communities who invested significantly in the building. The fact that Questacon in that 30 years has attracted nearly 12 million visitors, it's generated an enormous amount of money for the ACT tourism economy.
So that's a pretty substantial contribution for tourism alone. Then on top of that you've got the value-ad of developing young minds and brains, the human capital development which is very, very hard to quantify, almost impossible to put a figure on because it's not a single visit to Questacon that makes a difference, it's the whole of the life experience that does make the difference there. But importantly the contribution Questacon has made internationally, and we do that through the work of the Science Circus.
I've started using 'Science Circus diplomacy' as a term recently because the graduates who run the Science Circus after graduation have now worked in 58 different countries. The model we've developed touring around Australia of ultraportable exhibits, simple demonstrations using humble materials and enthusiastic presenters works in many, many different settings, whether it's in Africa, whether it's in Asia. The legacy of the founding of Questacon is literally global, so it has created an organisation that not only is important within Canberra alongside the other national cultural institutions, it reaches out across Australia into regional and remote communities, taking experiences into those communities, it also reaches out around the world into many countries.
And it's turned out that Questacon now is one of the…it's not one of the biggest science centres by any means but it's one of the most influential. We have one big truck, they have 1, trucks. Last year they interacted in China with 0. So they've taken a model from Australia and operated it in China the way that only the Chinese can, but it shows the importance of the development over a number of years creating models that others can take up, and I think Questacon has always done that.
Bob Hawke: There is of course, as you know, only a small number of national institutions deemed worthy of location here in the Parliamentary Triangle. The decision to place the National Science and Technology Centre amongst these premier institutions in this area reflects the very high priority the government attaches to it.
I pay tribute to my ministerial colleague Barry Jones who has been committed to this project from the start, and I congratulate Dr Michael Gore and his colleagues who brought to the centre the skills and the enthusiasm of Questacon.
Robyn Williams: What the Prime Minister said just now, about this being a turning point for Australian science, were you impressed by that? Mike Gore: I think that's tremendous, I think we were all impressed by that, I think there's going to be a resurgence of science in this country, it's going to be absolutely magnificent, and we are going to help to lead it too. Mike Gore: I think they are all in favour, in fact I know the scientific community is all in favour of this.
We must bear in mind that Australia paid only half the cost of this building, our good friends the Japanese paid the other half. Robyn Williams: I must make the point of course that the rally did say that they were there in the support of science and not demonstrating against the centre. Mike Gore: The rally came to see me about a week ago before they came and they said we are very much in favour of this science centre and we don't want to do anything to upset your opening.
Turn on more accessible mode. Turn off more accessible mode. Skip Ribbon Commands. Skip to main content. Turn off Animations. Turn on Animations. International Education. Sign in. Questacon Science Circus Tour. Page Content. Prof Durant noted the importance of the media in swaying community attitudes towards science. Promoting female role models in science will also encourage girls to pursue scientific and technological study and career paths.
Despite a modest beginning, by the mids Questacon had achieved national and international recognition. Exhibits include a water play area, a construction zone, and a quiet area. The galleries are staffed by paid staff, as well as team of about 60 volunteers.
The volunteers occasionally will make use of Discovery Trolleys, featuring smaller, hands-on exhibits related to the gallery.
It opened with 15 exhibits and was staffed entirely by volunteers. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Useful tips How was questacon built?
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