School students from Jilkminggan, Beswick and Katherine participated in science workshops on Monday and were given a VIP tour of Katherine Hospital on Tuesday. 

Hospital staff talked to students about how to pursue a career in health after leaving school.

Students heard from nurses, doctors, allied health professionals and the hospital IT department. 

They were then treated to an all access tour around the different hospital departments.

Questacon came to town this week to run Smart Skills workshops to help engage students and their teachers in the process of innovation through STEM. 

Smart Skills travels regional Australia delivering in-school workshops creating an awareness of technology, engineering and design-thinking amongst young Australians.

Smart Skills is supported by Samsung Electronics Australia.

“As Australia’s employment landscape continues to evolve, skills in STEM are becoming increasingly relevant across all industries and future career pathways,” Samsung head of corporate social responsibility, Tess Ariotti said.

“Through our partnership with Questacon, we want to promote practical STEM education experiences which help students explore design-thinking and challenge them with a variety of problem-solving activities.”

Smart Skills innovation mentor Sarah Simmonds said by using interactive and challenging workshops, students will gain hands-on knowledge, techniques, connections and confidence to prototype, test and refine their ideas using simple materials,.

“Teachers experience their students’ journey and gain models and resources they can use in their own classroom to support students in pursuing ideas,” Ms Simmonds said. 

“Smart Skills allows participants to use their creativity, imagination, critical thinking and design skills all delivered at their school by Questacon.”