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Sparks were flying at Wavell State High School today as students generated hydrogen to run model cars, examined the electricity market and explored other alternative sources of energy at a workshop delivered by the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA).

The ‘Powering our Future’ workshop challenged the Year 8 students to think beyond power points and investigate the issues affecting energy generation in the modern world.

School principal, Liz Foster, said the workshop gave some great insight to the students on an important issue they may not have contemplated before.

“Most 12 and 13-year-olds understand we need power for daily life (and for charging their devices!) but haven’t really contemplated how this power is generated,” said Ms Foster.

“This workshop was a great opportunity to probe more deeply into the source of electricity and discuss alternate sources of energy for the future.”

The QMEA is the educational arm of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) with today’s workshop funded by an education levy from QRC members.

QRC Director of Skills, Education and Diversity, Ms Katrina-Lee Jones, said today’s workshop was a great example of how QMEA workshops and programs can complement the teaching of science subjects in school.

“The workshop links the Australian Science curriculum with the real-world as the students explore the complexities of the National Energy Market and factors impacting on the generation of renewable energy,” said Ms Jones.

“The energy market is in a period of transition, so the workshop is perfectly timed to explore the factors impacting on the generation of power and the role the resources sector plays in creating new solutions,” she said.

“These young scientists may well be the ones who come up with the renewable energy innovations that will power us into the future.”