Past years

Program booklets from previous ASSETS programs can be downloaded from the links below:

[ilink url="http://riaus.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASSETS2010-Program-book.pdf" style="download"]Download the ASSETS 2010 Program Book[/ilink]

[ilink url="http://riaus.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASSETS2009-Program-book.pdf" style="download"]Download the ASSETS 2009 Program Book [/ilink]

[ilink url="http://riaus.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASSETS2008-Program-book.pdf" style="download"]Download the ASSETS 2008 Program Book[/ilink]

Report from the 2010 Program – Part 1

Culture and Leadership

Delivered by: Professor Peter Buckskin, Dean, David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education & Research, University of South Australia

Contribution: “Peter delivered a vibrant session on the importance to Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Australians of cultural awareness on the second day of the program. This was supported and supplemented by a series of evening speakers and a night session in which participants gave small group presentations on what they hoped to be doing in some years time and how this vision was influenced by their participation in ASSETS 2010.

Inspiration – Women’s Reproductive Health

Presenter: Dr Alice Rumbold, Robinson Institute, University of Adelaide.  Click here for more information about the Robinson Institute.

Contribution: “Alice shared information about her educational route to the work she is now doing in women’s reproductive health and provided some details of an extremely interesting and important study of a cluster of gynaecological cancers in a particular group of Aboriginal women in East Arnhem Land, NT. This study demonstrated both the importance of mathematics in science and included an excellent example of an hypothesis being shown to be wrong and how this, rather than being a dispiriting outcome, generated a range of interesting questions for further investigation.”

Click here for a copy of Alice’s presentation.

Inspiration – Augmented Reality

Presenter: Dr. Christian Sandor, Director: Magic Vision Lab and Senior Lecturer, School of Computer and Information Science, University of South Australia.

Contribution: “Christian entertained and educated the ASSETS participants for 45 minutes with a riveting demonstration of Augmented Reality, in which volunteers experimented with manipulating virtual objects in the real world. The future is already here!”
For an indication of the content of Christian’s inspirations, click here.

Inspiration – Strange Attractors

Presenter: Dr Zoz Brooks; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Discovery Channel

Contribution: “Zoz wowed the ASSETS participants at RiAus with a blitzkrieg tour of where his work in robotics and love of explosions had taken him. This included work on inventions to assist in clearing landmines, and concluded with an explosion triggered by a ‘mind race’ between two of the ASSETS audience.

Santos – Major Sponsor

Presentation on behalf of Major Sponsor, Santos.

Presenter: Che Cockatoo-Collins, Aboriginal Employment and Training Adviser with Santos. Click here for more information about Che.

Contribution: “Che spoke with the ASSETS participants about his background and the path to where he is now, and provided detail about the employment opportunities, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with Santos.”

Click here to view the powerpoint presentation used by Che.

Report from the 2010 Program – Part 2

Nanotechnology – Academic Stream

Organisation: Nanotechnology outreach, Flinders Uni Faculty of Science and Engineering

Lead Person: Brent Banham, Science Communicator and educator

Contribution: Developed and delivered in association with ASSETS a unique series of secondary-school focussed nanotechnology inquiry topics.

Preventative Health – Academic Stream

Two sections of CSIRO liaised to deliver this stream.

Organisation: CSIRO Preventative Health Flagship

Lead Person: Professor Richard Head

Contribution: Professor Head gave a cutting edge presentation on colorectal cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and provided the participants with a support document and a number of Inquiry topics for follow up.

Organisation: CSIRO Food & Nutritional Sciences Laboratories

Lead Person: Peter Royle

Contribution: Peter’s team provided ASSETS participants with a range of hands-on experiences, sampling most aspects of the work carried out in their laboratories. They also produced a support booklet and an inquiry topic for follow-up.

Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS)

The daytime component of ASSETS in 2010 took place in a number of venues, but was essentially hosted by ASMS. It was there that the Program was formally welcomed, the participants had IT access, Initial Preventative Health and Nanotechnology presentations took place, groups engaged with Expert Inquiry topics and formal presentations, and where the closing ceremony took place, attended by the State Minister for Education and by the State Governor. This support was provided as a major in-kind sponsorship. Principal Susan Hyde attended and contributed to the opening and closing ceremonies, and Studio Support Officer, Matt Jamieson (Jamo), worked closely with the participants in the Crime Scene Investigation, the Datalogging, and the Expert Inquiry group work, as well as organising lunchtime Frisbee distractions.

Crime Scene Investigation in the ASMS laboratory: A staff member has been kidnapped! ASSETS participants work in a series of lab-based teams to work through the sometimes conflicting evidence to identify which of the many suspects is responsible. (Lead Person – Jamo)

Datalogging activity at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre: Using dataloggers to measure environmental conditions in the Warriparinga wetlands, following a cultural education walk through the wetlands which focused on the uses made of the wetlands by the Kaurna people. (Lead Person – Jamo)

Participant Expert Inquiry Groups: ASSETS participants work in groups of 3 or 4 pursuing a unique inquiry topic and delivering a 10-minute presentation at the closing ceremony. (Lead Person – a team of 8 ASSETS staff, including Jamo)

Report from the 2010 Program – Part 3

Taste of TAFE – A Day at TAFE SA, Panorama Campus

Organisation: TAFE SA, Panorama Campus

Lead Person: Peter Daly, Manager Geoscience, Spatial Information Services, Surveying

Contribution: Computer aided design and construction activity. Participants were introduced to ‘AutoCAD’s 2011 Inventor package’. They produced and plotted 3D parametric models in full colour with different surface finishes. They were also introduced to the fundamentals of bridge design, culminating in teams designing, building and testing bridges.

Wiltja Residence

Participant accommodation and support
Organisation: Wiltja Residence. Click here for a pamphlet about Wiltja Residence.

Lead People: Anthony Bennet (Manager), Rosemary Ryan (Deputy Manager), Cheryl Arthur (Wiltja Coordinator) and a staff of 17

Contribution: Participants were housed at Wiltja Residence and cared for by staff who are Indigenous leaders and mentors from many parts of Australia, with years of experience in Indigenous education and youth work. Wiltja also provided specialist support for the participants in their preparation and delivery of the celebratory “Springboarding off ASSETS” group presentations on their last night in Adelaide.

After Dinner Speakers

Professor Peter Buckskin, ASSETS Patron and Dean of the David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education & Research, University of South Australia. Click here to download Peter’s presentation.

Gerrit Wanganeen, from the first ASSETS program in 1992; Australian Public Service Indigenous Liaison Officer. Click here to download Gerrit’s presentation.

Dannielle Ghezzi: from the first new ASSETS program in January of 2008. Click here to download Dannielle’s presentation.

Report from the 2009 Program

All 29 participants who commenced the program on 12 December 2009 completed the program, and all students participated in official presentations of their activities in relation to both the academic strands and the cultural/leadership strand. From observations and anecdotal evidence, it was clear the program was a huge success. As a group, and individually, the students performed enthusiastically and cooperatively. They engaged fully with all activities and clearly saw this as an opportunity to extend themselves academically and personally. Official guests from universities and other partners were very impressed by the standard of work reflected in the reports given by the students on their academic investigations and their cultural/leadership experiences. Click here to download the full report from 2009.

 Report from the 2008 Program

The report from the 2008 program starts:

A summer school in Science and Technology was held in January 2008 for nineteen Indigenous students commencing year 11 who were identified as having high academic potential in science and mathematics. Known as the Aboriginal Summer School for Excellence in technology and Science (ASSETS) the summer school was held at the Australian Science and Mathematics School, Flinders University, Adelaide South Australia. Selected on merit, the Indigenous students came from around the nation to participate in the ten-day innovative program. Student engagement and involvement with the concepts and conduct of science was high and the activity intense. Learning was deep and its impact on students’ was profound. This paper reports on the nature of learning and teaching of science to Indigenous students at this school and seeks to answer the question ‘What was so innovative about the program that its impact was not merely successful but also profound?’ Click here to download the full report from 2008.

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