Peering into the microscopic world: How AuScope is bringing state-of-the-art science into schools
InspireWA's portable scanning electron microscope (SEM) is sparking imaginations. Image: AuScope
To the naked eye, a rock might seem like just that – rough, grey and unremarkable. But under a scanning electron microscope (SEM), it can transform into something extraordinary: a crystal, volcanic glass, or even a fossil fragment that provides a window into our ancient world.
Thanks to the Inspire STEM Education program in Western Australia, students in schools across the state are now making these incredible discoveries for themselves, right from their very classrooms.
The program is putting research-grade SEM instruments into the hands of primary and high school students, giving them the ability to magnify objects up to 100,000 times and explore far beyond the limits of the naked eye. The only limit is their imagination, with samples ranging from pollen and bone to strands of hair – and sometimes, the unexpected.
“Dead bugs always seem to be the winner,” laughed Dr Libby Feutrill, who leads the program from Curtin University. “But I think my favourite sample was from a teacher in high school, who was a geologist in a previous life, who brought a sample of fossilised plankton from Scott Reef.”
A SEM instrument in the science classroom at Palmyra Primary School, WA. Image: supplied
Supported by AuScope and delivered in partnership with Curtin University, Hitachi and NewSpec, the program aims to inspire interest in STEM and provide hands-on opportunities for students to explore their environment from a new perspective.
Feedback about the program has been extremely positive from students and teachers alike.
“The sample preparation is one of the greatest things about this instrument – students being able to take a piece of nature themselves and have a closer look at it,” said one teacher from Churchlands Senior High School. “Nothing’s quite as satisfying as listening to the ‘oooohs,’ ‘aaahhs’ and ‘wowwws’ from students.”
In the first half of 2025, the SEMs in Schools program reached more than 1,700 students from 10 schools around the state, with the rest of the school year already fully booked. The program has even prompted some schools to take tours of Perth’s John de Laeter Research Centre, home to some of the world’s most advanced geoscience instrumentation.
The SEM in Schools Program at CBC Fremantle Boys School. Image: supplied
The Inspire STEM Education program began in 2017 and has been active for several years in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. When Professor Brent McInnes, Director of AuScope Earthbank, saw it in action interstate, he recognised it as a tangible opportunity to inspire students at the grassroots level. Through AuScope’s EarthBank project, he secured funding to bring the program to WA, and alongside Dr Feutrill, created a Curtin University-led partnership that has resulted in the mobile SEM now travelling across the state.
“AuScope is about research infrastructure: large-scale pieces of instrumentation. Those big instruments can be hard for the community to engage with, but through this project, we can take this laboratory science to the classroom, so that students can see that there’s a career awaiting them, if they’re interested in instrument-based science,” said Professor McInnes.
SEM images of pollen (left) and a dead ant (right). Image: supplied
AuScope, which is supported by the Department of Education’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), covers costs associated with the program and makes it free for schools that request a fee waiver, facilitating equitable access amongst schools.
“It’s a significant enabler, particularly for government schools that may not have the budget,” said Dr Feutrill.
With funding secured for the next 4 years, Dr Feutrill and Professor McInnes said they are hoping the program will continue to grow, with plans to expand into regional schools and obtain a second SEM to meet demand.
“In October, the SEM will travel to the goldfields about 600 km east of Perth, and in December, the microscope will go to Albany, about 400 km south of Perth, for a workshop that's been coordinated by SciTech. Then, it will likely go 400 km north in February,” said Dr Feutrill.
The program’s impact extends beyond the classrooms, inspiring not only students and teachers, but those involved in running the program as well.
“I've had a fairly successful career in science, but to me, this project is the one I think will have the biggest impact in the world,” said Professor McInnes. “Even if a couple of students get inspired by something like this and go on to become, say, Nobel Prize winners or who knows what – it makes me feel good to know that we are doing it, and I have confidence that it will make an impact.”
By allowing students to peer into the microscopic world, the SEM in Schools program is shaping our next generation of future scientists, showing them there’s much more to the world than what meets the eye.
STORY IN A NUTSHELL
Thanks to the Inspire STEM Education program, supported by AuScope and partners, Western Australian students are using research-grade SEMs in classrooms to magnify the world 100,000× and spark new discoveries.
