Powerhouse Museum - Sparking Change

Please wait

Powerhouse Museum - Sparking Change

This breadth of response was partly a result of 50°C incorporating input from a range of partners. These included researchers from Western Sydney University, University of NSW and the University of Sydney, along with industry, advocacy groups and creative collaborators such as CSIRO, Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Sweltering Cities, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Sydney Water, Greening Australia, Story Factory, Melbourne Megagames and me. These partnerships allowed the program to deliver innovative elements such as a game in which students can explore the impact of different policy responses by local government, alongside units exploring microclimates and data analysis, the health impacts of heat and environmental design solutions.

These elements were supported by the placement of doctoral students from Western Sydney University, University of NSW and the University of Sydney in schools. The doctoral students worked with the schools across the 10 weeks of the course, mentoring and assisting with the projects. Similarly, the course’s emphasis on Indigenous design perspectives was expanded by school visits by First Nations-led design studio Always Collective.

From the outset, the program was also designed to be highly flexible. ‘Each school chose to implement the program in a way that suited their context,’ says Poisel. ‘At three schools, a geography teacher and a science teacher worked together to deliver it. Several schools presented the program as a STEM unit, and one school implemented the program as a transdisciplinary project. The most exciting part about the summit was seeing the diversity of student projects that came from each school’s context, delivery and findings, and that this hadn’t been a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning. Teacher autonomy and student agency and leadership were key to this program.’

Sebastian Pfautsch is Professor of Urban Planning and Management in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University and one of the experts behind the trial. He says science and engineering have a crucial part to play in building a sustainable future:

That passion is already translating into real-world action. At Seven Hills, students are working with Greening Australia’s Cooling the Schools program to introduce the shading system for their basketball courts. Doonside is implementing a five-year plan based on its students’ work. ‘The principal listened to the kids and their data was accepted,’ says Culhane. Similarly at The Ponds, the work carried out by students is being incorporated into the school’s planning. At Arthur Phillip, students are presenting their cooling plan to the Department of Education with a view to turning it into reality, while the data obtained during the initial phase of the program is being combined to allow schools to compare heat conditions on specific days. These successes are only the beginning: there are already plans to make the program a regular feature in Western Sydney schools and to expand it to other parts of the country.

For those who worked on 50°C, the response of the students has been inspiring. ‘When you work in this space it often feels like you’re going backwards instead of forwards,’ says Pfautsch. ‘But this was the complete opposite. Seeing the way the kids engaged gave me hope. It made me smile a lot. And it also made me incredibly proud, knowing that the entire project team and the teachers empowered these kids to take climate action. We need more projects like this one. They make a difference.’

Students agree. ‘One of the most important things I have learnt from this program is that change starts with us,’ says Aleesha Ayub from The Ponds. Cumberland High School’s Shiven Goel agrees: ‘Even if you’re not an adult or an expert on heat, you can still make a change in your community.’ Perhaps the most powerful endorsement for the initiative comes from Macarthur Girls students Anagha Thirumalai Srihari and Moshka Josh, who say: ‘Our plans don’t need more time, they need action … We may be simple Year 9s and 10s, but today we’ve proved that young voices can spark real change … The future isn’t something that we wait for, it’s something that we build. So let’s start building together now.’