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Allan Whittome's inspiring teaching saw him win the
2007 Premier's Prize for Excellence in Science
Teaching: Primary.

Many scientists have a similar story about what inspired them to devote their lives to science - a great teacher or a fascinating school experience.

For me, it was a school trip to Charles Darwin's house, which just happened to be nearby the local public school I attended in England, that spurred me on to study science and to believe in myself.

I was an unlikely candidate to embark on a science career - no one in my immediate family had attended university and it certainly wasn't a career imagined for girls.

While I don't expect every school student to choose science, I do want them to have that option, as I did.

My fear is that too many students are rejecting science without really knowing what they are passing up.

In Australian primary schools, science is taught for only an average of 45 minutes each week.

There are many programs that are trying to turn this around, including the Australian Academy of Science's Primary Connections program, which has resulted in greater science uptake by teachers in Queensland and Western Australia.

When they become inspired, teachers are amazing everyone with what can be achieved in primary schools.

Allan Whittome, a teacher at the tiny Badgingarra Primary School, halfway between Perth and Geraldton, is an inspiration who involved his students in a number of award-winning science projects. In one contest, his students came second when they represented WA in the CO2 Dragster Challenge in Canberra after developing the State’s fastest model dragster car. Last year, his Year Six students won the National Association of Testing Authorities' Young Scientist award for experiments on how to make soils wetter.

An indication of the priority that science education has for me as Chief Scientist is the permanent working party that was set up to examine this issue as part of the Premier's Science and Innovation Council.

Already there are government schemes in place to help address the shortage of science teaching. A $1.1 million pilot scheme has been set up to mentor secondary school teachers in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. This is to address the high attrition rates among teachers, with research showing that 30 per cent of teachers of these subjects leave the profession in the first two years after qualifying. A similar scheme in California saw their attrition rate drop from 30 to 6 per cent. We wait to see if our scheme has the same success.

Science competitions are another way for schools to spark more interest in science.

The BioGENEius Challenge of WA is one such program that I observed first-hand last year. It's a great chance for students to experience real research in a top class biotechnology laboratory creating things that could go to full commercialisation. Selected students will spend a year working on a biotechnology-related research project under the guidance of WA’s top researchers. WA has two winners who will represent us very well when they travel to the United States this year to compete in this international science event.

I love these types of events because I believe science isn’t all text books. It is hands-on, in the lab and in the real world. I strongly support the work of Labnetwest, the association of science technicians in WA independent schools, which sets up lab classes in schools and works with teachers to develop interesting and relevant projects.

As you read this, I am in the Republic of South Africa to promote WA as a great place for university students - both undergraduate and postgraduate - to study science. I believe attracting South African students will be good for the WA economy but also it will enrich our campuses with people who bring new ideas from other parts of the world.

While here, I am stressing the commonality between Australia and South Africa - we both have substantial mining industries, a rich diversity of animals and plants and we are both regions of internationally recognised biodiversity. We also share common issues such as the impact of climate change.

I will share with them examples of WA scientists already working on research relevant to South Africa, including Dr Trish Fleming of the Murdoch University Veterinary School and her work on giraffes, and Dr Giles Hardy, Director of the Centre for Phytophthora Research at Murdoch University, whose work includes insights into diseases of boab trees in WA and Madagascar.

To me, that's one of the great things about science - it can take you all over the world or even out of this world. And you're never too young to get your first taste of how addictive it can be.

I was amazed to find a Year 3 student who knew all about the Fat-tailed Dunnart. Or the students at Perth's Shenton College who developed a vineyard with wines that went on win prizes at the Royal Perth Show, even though the students were too young to drink it!

But it's hard to beat the Geraldton primary school students who built a rocket out of items available in a supermarket, attached a disposable camera, set it to delay and took a photo of the school from 40 feet in the air. Now that’s science!

Professor Lyn Beazley is the Chief Scientist of Western Australia.