A visit to Japan isn’t complete without a ride on a bullet train. These high speed trains are called Shinkansen. Japan isn’t the only country with bullet trains, however, it did build the first high speed line in 1964. The train lines connect most of Japan’s major cities. The Shinkansen are known for their punctuality with most trains departing to the second, with about 800 Shinkansen run each day.

1. Why is the Japanese Shinkansen called the ‘bullet train’ and what is the maximum speed it can travel?

2. In your own words, explain how a bullet train can travel so fast.

3. How do you think it would affect the Japanese way of life, if the Shinkansen had not been invented? Give some examples.

The Nobel Prize was established by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. He wanted the Nobel Prize to be awarded ‘to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.’

These were the first international prizes to be awarded in the world. Recipients of the prize are known as Nobel laureates.

On exhibit at MIRAIKAN (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Japan) are messages in the form of questions from Nobel laureates that have visited the museum. Each was asked to, ‘pose one question that you want the visitors to think about for the rest of their life.’

Think about how you would answer one of the following questions posed by Nobel laureates and write an answer as your reply.

1. How will you improve the world for our children and all who follow behind? - Barack H. Obama（The Nobel Prize in Peace 2009）
2. How can we keep on being curious? – Koichi Tanaka（The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002）
3. Find your talents and work on their development. Then keep stretching your limits by asking yourself: “How can I maximize the use of my talents?’ - Leo Esaki（The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973）
4. If you become a scientist 20 years from now, what research would you like to do? – Makoto Kobayashi（The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008）
5. What is your dream? Are you doing your best towards your dream? - Shinya Yamanaka（The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

A Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Government and International Relations student at Griffith University, Molly was presented with her award by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop.

Molly will spend two semesters at Hong Kong University as part of her scholarship, and will then attend Peking University in China to research investment protection and learn Mandarin. She also has plans to study the effects of climate change on planned migrations of Pacific Island Peoples for three months in Kiribati.

Molly outlines a global perspective in her response to the award HERE >>>

The New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative of the Australian Government which aims to lift knowledge of the Indo Pacific in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region.

Celeste cites her time at QACI and her most recent work experience collaborating with fellow alumnus, Diveakkssh Schae (2013), as positive influences on her drive and capability to engage in lifelong learning experiences:

“I’ve spent the past two years working at Uber in Brisbane (alongside another QACI alum, Diveakssh Schae) as part of the Local Marketing Team, where I’ve had the opportunity to work on really exciting projects such as UberJET and UberPUPPIES, and establish partnerships with some of Queensland’s leading events such as the Ekka and Brisbane Festival.

I’m also part of the QUT Business International Case Competition Team, where I get the chance to travel internationally and compete against other universities to solve real business problems presented by global companies – something that has helped me in understanding how marketing fits into the bigger picture of business as a whole.

My experience at QACI has contributed a lot to where I am today – my passion for business (and marketing) stemmed from studying Business at QACI, and doing my Extended Essay in Business, and a lot of my creative and design skills that I use every day stemmed from what I learned in Visual Art (Design). QACI also taught me the value of hard work and to always be pushing yourself and challenging yourself in everything that you do.”

A highlight of my visit to the Narita-san Shin shoji Buddhist temple in Japan, was visiting the magnificent Great Peace Pagoda. This five-storey pagoda was built in 1984 and has a time capsule hidden in the underground floor. The time capsule contains Letters of Peace written by 11 world leaders, including US President Ronald Regan, Queen Elizabeth ll, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the Dalai Lama and the King of Thailand. It is due to be opened in 2434. How special would it be to open the time capsule in 2434!

1. How old will the time capsule be when it is opened?

2. Imagine peace was a thing! What colour do you think peace would be and why did you pick this colour?

3. How is peace like sunshine?

4. What message of peace would you like to share with the world?

]]> https://qa.eq.edu.au/2017/10/challenge-three/feed/ 53 https://qa.eq.edu.au/2017/10/challenge-two/ https://qa.eq.edu.au/2017/10/challenge-two/#comments Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:52:12 +0000 Queensland Academies Brand Office https://qa.eq.edu.au/?p=13363 read more →]]> Come fly with me!

During my visit to the Japanese Museum of Aeronautical Sciences, I had the opportunity to view the world’s largest, movable model of a Boeing 747-400.

The Boeing 747 is a passenger airliner and is affectionately known as a ‘Jumbo Jet.’ It made its first flight in 1969, making air travel available to ordinary people around the world.   It has approximately 6 million parts.

The fuselage of passenger planes are egg shaped – as you can see from the picture – and the aluminium walls, light-weight and thin.

1. What is the fuselage of an aircraft and what does it contain?

2. Why is the design of the fuselage egg-shaped? What is unique about this structural shape?

3. What modifications or alterations can you suggest to improve the design of the layout of the fuselage?

Is coconut oil the secret to whitening your teeth? Is it possible to hack all modern cars? How is subliminal messaging effecting your subconscious?

Students from across our three Queensland Academies campuses were given the opportunity to present their research exploring the latest ideas in Science and Technology at our annual Café Scientifique event held at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) during National Science Week this year.

The evening commenced with our Year 3 and 4 Bright Minds students presenting their short speeches about Why Science is so Important in our Lives to an audience of 100 attendees on the deck at the state-of-the-art Science and Engineering Centre, while the stunning dusk Southbank skyline provided a superb backdrop to the night.

The atmosphere was buzzing as special guest and esteemed scientist Dr Ben Greene’s key note inspired audience members, and students were privileged to receive insightful and encouraging feedback from Dr Greene throughout the evening as they presented their scientific research across a variety of topics. The passion for science was evident with student presenters providing real world applications to their research in creative and innovative ways.

Queensland Academies Creative Industries’ student Josephine Mabin summarised her experience as an excellent learning opportunity surrounded by students of similar interests and a fabulous event to exchange ideas with people who hold different levels of expertise and hold a passion for Science.  She summarised the sentiment of Dr Ben Greene, a scientist present during the evening, “science is everywhere”.

Please remember: Be cybersafe – post using your first name and the first initial of your school, only. Solve all 5 challenges and a surprise awaits!

Let’s get started.

I was very lucky to meet ASIMO when I visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Check out the video below to see ASIMO in action!

1. Who is ASIMO and why is he so famous?

2. How is ASIMO different to other robots?

3. What does it mean to be human and can a machine have human characteristics? Can you think of any problems with this form of advancing technology?

You can make your own paper-craft model of ASIMO here.

Congratulations to Milan Gandhi, 2008 Queensland Academies Creative Industries (QACI) Foundation Alumnus, who has been announced the winner of the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards – Australian Law Student of the Year category. Queensland Academies is extremely proud of Milan’s achievements and wishes him all the best. His acknowledgement below speaks volumes about QACI as a nurturing environment in which he developed as an IB Learner, and the critical and creative thinking attributes that he developed through his study of IB Film. These critical and creative thinking attributes he now uses to challenge the traditions of the legal world through his not-for-profit entity, The Legal Forecast.

More on Law Weekly and the awards can be found here: https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/21799-winners-of-the-australian-law-awards-reign-supreme

Visit QACI’s Alumni page for a bit more detail about Milan and what drives him: https://qaci.eq.edu.au/portfolio-item/milan-gandhi/

When Ruben and his team members first loaned the NAO “QT” from QUT’s Australian Centre for Robotic Vision from COO Sue Keay, after first seeing NAO “Franco” at Coder Dojo Brisbane Square, they never imagined they would be working so closely with the much larger Pepper robots so soon.

Ruben and the team (including his Dad, Simon) developed relationships with coders and roboticists that led them to engage with the Pepper humanoid social robot and the Robotics Accelerator.

There are 7 Pepper teams and 3 custom robotics teams.

The 10 teams will be given $15,000 progressively over the 12 week program to develop robotics applications to eventually demonstrate the product on a demonstration day in early October at The Precinct, TC Beirne Building in Fortitude Valley, home of ST Australia (SoftBank’s subsidiary in Australia) and the innovation hub created by the Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland initiative.

Both companies partnered with QUT bluebox and other sponsors to create the Robotics Accelerator.

Ruben and his Robosys team plan to support the Queensland State Archives with enhancing the digital experience of school children and other customers at the Archives through engagement with Pepper.

The Principal of the Queensland Academies Science, Mathematics and Technology Campus, Ms Kath Kayrooz and the Principal of the Queensland Academies Creative Industries Campus, Mr Gavin Bryce are both very proud of Ruben as a member of the  Brisbane Brilliant Futures community – and wish Ruben every success.