Tall Poppy Seminars
The South Australian Tall Poppy Campaign holds a series of seminars throughout the year. Each seminar is themed  to allow integration of Mathematical, Physical or Biological Sciences and to highlight the interdisciplinary application of ”science”. Seminars include presentations from our Tall Poppies and are held in metropolitan or regional areas of South Australia. Numerous high schools are invited to bring their students to attend.

Some examples of themes in the past are:

“Science is an Ocean of Discovery”
Audience: Students of Yr 8-10

“What is Science?”
Audience: Students of Yr 8-10

“Electronic Engineering – Much More Than Building”
Audience: Students of Yr 9-10

School visits

South Australian Tall Poppies also engage in school visits across the state. If you are interested in having a Tall Poppy visit your school please contact the SA outreach officer.

How to Engineer Sustainability

Feb 2011

On the 25^th Feb 2011, 120 students from eight schools around Adelaide descended on the Mawson Lakes Conference centre to learn about the fantastic opportunities available in Engineering.

The collaboration between the SA Tall Poppy Campaign and the Northern Advanced Manufacturing Industry Group (NAMIG) bought together industry and academia for a day-long workshop entitled How to Engineer Sustainability.

With speakers ranging from a CSIRO scientist to a Clipsal Industrial Designer, students enjoyed a very successful and interactive day dispelling the myth that engineering is just bridges and machinery.

For many students, and even teachers, the term ‘Engineering’ can be an impenetrable one. By pulling apart the umbrella term students had the chance to experience the many possibilities within ‘Engineering’ – including BioMedical, Civil, Chemical, Electrical, Electronic, Mechanical and Aerospace.

By looking at each engineering stream through the lens of sustainability, student were able to see how the varied disciplines can come together to address one of the biggest challenges of their future.

By pairing up an industry speaker with a high level scientific researcher, each of the workshops emphasised the importance of innovation and research as well as the practical applications of the technologies on the ground. In this way the event covered the career prospects of the tertiary-inclined students as well as VET and trades students, like those that attended from St Patrick’s Technical College, from Adelaide’s north.

Students were given the chance to play with cutting edge biomedical equipment, become a design consultant for Clipsal, see a Coca-Cola can turned into a data retrieval device for a Mars landing and compete in the surprisingly difficult task of building a paddle-pop stick bridge.

To finish the day students had to apply everything they had learnt to how each engineering stream could be involved in making Australia more sustainable in the face of natural disasters – all for the chance to win a laser-skirmish match for them and nine friends donated by Two Worlds Collide Laser Skirmish.

With excellent feedback from students and teachers, the Tall Poppy Campaign will look forward to organising the event again in the future.