Science Space director Stuart Creal is a very happy man.
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Mr Creal was pleased enough regions across NSW were virtually enjoying a remote-learning program developed by the Wollongong-based Science Space.
He was though "absolutely ecstatic" when he heard a "flurry" of schools from Melbourne were now also enjoying their virtual excursions.
"It has been really rewarding to be able to support those schools. Obviously it has been very difficult times our Melbourne friends are going through," Mr Creal said.
"There was a great excursion last week. David [Lukins] from my team did a virtual planetarium show and I think there was 70 separate kindy students all zooming in.
"Not only that but they were all dressed as astronauts or space-related characters. The teacher was all dressed up as an astronaut who was flying a cardboard rocket. It was really fantastic."
The innovative science centre and planetarium has delivered remote STEM learning to nearly 1,200 primary school students across NSW and Victoria on topics ranging from space expeditions to terrarium building and liquid nitrogen to the secret life of bees.
Sarah Torcasio, teacher at Ashley Park Primary School in Doreen on the north-eastern outskirts of Melbourne took her Year 1 and 2 students on a Science Space virtual excursion.
"Our incursion was so educational, informative and so much fun! The kids loved it and had so many great things to say and so many questions about space! This experience was so much fun, especially during remote learning," Ms Torcasio said.
The program began in March this year to help engage students learning remotely from home, offering free livestreams of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) learning sessions.
With support from South32, this soon developed into a blended learning package called Takeaway STEM that includes physical activity materials, worksheets, videos and live virtual classroom learning support for students.
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Science Space also launched a suite of live science shows - virtual excursions - delivered direct to remote classrooms via Livestream, as well as Australia's first Livestream Planetarium shows.
Science Space will continue to offer more than 50 free home science experiments, workbooks and recorded livestream videos to families to help support curious minds no matter the location or travel restrictions.
"While we live in an uncertain time, we promise high quality and accessible STEM learning for all no matter your location," Mr Creal said.
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