Islamic School of Canberra Principal & ANU Plant Scientist Travel to East Timor, Supported by Westlab
A partnership between a plant scientist and a teacher has resulted in a trip to the impoverished rural region of Maliana in East Timor, to deliver a three-day workshop to 40 teachers aimed to explore new ways of thinking about science.
The idea of the program, called Process by Design, is to promote independent thinking, provide training in the use of scientific equipment and deliver a kit of educational resources.
“We can actually expose people to cutting edge science and a way to help them teach their students, to get them to aspire to go to university and things like that,” Dr Sharwood said.
Westlab has donated multiple types of physics, chemistry and biology equipment to support the education of science in East Timor. “Westlab’s core purpose is to ‘enrich the world of science’ so when we received the call from Mr Johns to discuss supporting the programme, we got right behind it,” Gavin Grace said.
“A limited financial situation, the limited opportunities that life provides, shouldn’t be a limitation on what you learn,” Mr Johns said.
“If we are going over there enabling people and developing capacity in people who wouldn’t otherwise have that, that’s an enormous gift for them. It gives significant meaning to what we do.”
Read the article on the Canberra Times and ANU News. Visit our corporate page to find out more about our core values, https://www.westlab.com.au/corporate.
Islamic School of Canberra principal David Johns and ANU scientist Robert Sharwood. Photo: Karleen Minney
Westlab equipment and the periodic table in use at East Timor school.
Teachers in a training session with the Westlab periodic table in the background. Westlab ‘enriching the world of science’.
Islamic School of Canberra principal David Johns and ANU scientist Robert Sharwood with students in East Timor.