We welcomed thousands of families to our summer and winter Toddlerfest events, transforming the Scitech Discovery Centre into a festival of play for children aged 0 to 5.

Through hands-on sensory activities, imaginative play, live shows and toddler-friendly planetarium experiences, Toddlerfest encouraged young children to discover, experiment and learn at their own pace. The events also gave parents and carers practical ideas and confidence to continue play-based learning at home.

Toddlerfest reflects growing evidence that play is fundamental to healthy child development. Recent reports, The State of Play 2025 and Weaving Play into the National Fabric, highlight the vital role of play in supporting children’s physical and mental wellbeing, social and emotional development, creativity, resilience, problem-solving skills and lifelong learning.

During Summer Toddlerfest we welcomed author and parenting specialist Maggie Dent, who reinforced the importance of giving young children time and space to play.

By creating joyful, evidence-based experiences for our youngest visitors, Toddlerfest helps lay the foundations for a lifelong love of learning while empowering families to support their child’s development at home.

• 31,515 children and adults attended Toddlerfest events

After inspiring visitors at the Scitech Discovery Centre, our feature exhibitions travel to science centres around the world, showcasing Western Australian exhibit design and engaging approximately 1 million people each year.

In 2025-26, Scitech had 10 exhibitions touring internationally, all designed and built in our onsite workshop, and hired by science centres in the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

International touring is valuable in creating partnerships with other science museums, expanding Scitech’s outreach, and promoting WA as a leader in science and innovation.

International touring also provides an important revenue source for Scitech as a not-for-profit organisation, helping to fund new exhibitions, shows, statewide outreach, and professional learning
for educators. Global success feeds directly back into our state, sustaining Scitech’s ability to deliver world-leading STEM learning for Western Australians.

Delivered by Scitech and powered by the Australian Space Agency, Mission: SPACE encouraged students to explore the possibilities of a space career, while also building essential skills.

A key highlight was the Mars Challenge Kit, which saw more than 8,000 students from 100 primary schools across Australia design, build, test and launch their own Mars lander prototypes.

Through this real-world engineering challenge, students gained experience in creative problem solving, digital technology, and teamwork.

Mission: SPACE also connected students with inspiring role models during National Science Week, with four free virtual excursions attracting more than 53,000 student views. Students heard from leading experts including Australia’s first astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, and retired NASA astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, who shared their journeys and encouraged young people to imagine their place in Australia’s space future.

The program’s impact extended beyond students. More than 3,000 teacher engagements were achieved through professional learning opportunities, classroom-ready STEM resources, and the virtual excursions, helping educators confidently bring science and digital technology learning into their classrooms.

• 64,000 student and teacher engagements across Australia
• Winner of 2026 ASPAC Creative Award for Best Science Communication

Ah! Rated

Scitech presented a new adults-only science show, Ah! Rated, during Fringe World Perth 2026.

Featuring explosive science demonstrations, an exploration into some of the most fascinating mating rituals from the animal kingdom, and lots of laughs, Ah! Rated allowed Scitech to create a science experience tailored specifically for adult audiences and engage people who might not otherwise come to Scitech.

• 977 tickets sold, including three sold-out shows

Scitech After Dark

Scitech’s After Dark events create a unique space for adults to reconnect with science in a relaxed, social atmosphere.

By transforming Scitech into an adults-only experience, the event reaches audiences who may not otherwise engage with STEM, demonstrating that science is for everyone, at every stage of life.

In 2026, we introduced the new Probably Science Gameshow, where contestants put their science knowledge to the test in a fun, interactive trivia competition. We also continued audience favourites, including the Particle Quiz, the ever-popular beer goggles activity, and the live planetarium show Voyage of Discovery.

• 1,790 adults attended four After Dark events

Particle

Scitech’s independent media platform, Particle, connects young people with the science shaping Western Australia and the world.

Through creative, funny and accessible storytelling, Particle celebrates local scientific achievements while helping readers explore the ideas, discoveries and people driving innovation.

Particle’s online articles explain the science behind current events, showcase groundbreaking research, explore complex topics in depth, and profile the scientists and innovators making a difference.

This engagement extends beyond the website through podcasts, email newsletters, short documentaries and social media, creating multiple opportunities for young audiences to connect with STEM in ways that are relevant to their lives.

In 2025-26, Particle reached a significant milestone, publishing its 1,000th article and confirming its continued growth as a trusted source of science journalism.

By making science understandable, engaging and relatable, Particle empowers young people to better understand the world around them, think critically about the issues shaping their future, and discover the diverse education and career pathways available through STEM.

• 244,750 engagement across Particle platforms
• 1,066 articles since Particle launched in 2017

West Kimberley incursions and teacher development

In 2025-26, Scitech’s Aboriginal Education Program brought hands-on science incursions to 12 remote community schools across the West Kimberley.

Supported by the Collier Charitable Fund, the tour covered thousands of kilometers, delivering engaging STEM experiences to students, and professional learning for teachers.

Workshops focused on hands-on activities that encouraged understanding through doing, such as insect investigations using microscopes and collaborative science experiments. Scitech also delivered professional learning workshops to teachers and provided physical resources to extend teachers’ skills and confidence.

Polly Farmer Foundation Follow the Dream Program

Scitech continued our partnership with the Polly Farmer Foundation’s Follow the Dream program, helping Aboriginal students explore STEM through engaging, hands-on learning experiences in the Perth Metro and Pilbara regions.

DIY Kits

An important way we support Aboriginal students’ learning is through our DIY Science Kits.

Each kit contains everything a teacher needs to deliver engaging, hands-on STEM learning for a full school term, from Pre-primary toYear 6. This includes detailed lesson plans, curriculum-aligned resources, equipment, and consumable materials.

Demand for the kits is consistently high, with all kits fully booked each term. To maximise our impact, priority is given to schools that are regional, remote, have a low ICSEA rating or a high proportion of Aboriginal students.

In this way, we are helping ensure students who face the greatest barriers to STEM engagement have access to high-quality learning experiences.

Banksia Hill Detention Centre

During the April school holidays, we returned to Banksia Hill Detention Centre to deliver our Sky’s the Limit workshop to young people at the centre.

The workshop provided an engaging and positive learning experience, giving 56 young people the opportunity to explore design and engineering in a supportive environment.

Avonvale Primary School

Our long-standing partnership with Avonvale Primary School continued to play an important role in the development of Scitech’s education programs.

During 2025–26, we visited the school to trial new activities for our Aboriginal Education Program workshops, gathering valuable feedback from students and educators.

Testing new workshop content in authentic classroom settings helps us refine activities before they are delivered more broadly, ensuring our programs remain engaging, effective and aligned with the needs of students and teachers.

Scitech brings hands-on science learning directly to schools and communities across Western Australia.

Primary School Outreach

In 2026, we travelled through the Wheatbelt, covering 3,000 kilometres to deliver science shows and workshops to 17 schools, from Beverley to Dumbleyung, including some of WA’s smallest schools.

We also took science across the Pilbara, visiting 13 schools in Port Hedland, Newman, Tom Price and Karratha, with hands-on experiences designed to spark curiosity and connect science to everyday life.

These incursions create joyful, memorable moments where students can ask questions, experiment and see themselves as capable STEM learners. Through our engagement with regional and remote schools, we are helping ensure a child’s postcode is never a barrier to science engagement.

• 7 primary school outreach tours
• 3,852 primary school outreach engagements

Bringing science to community celebrations

At Scitech, we believe science belongs wherever communities come together to connect, celebrate and explore. Through our community activations, we bring science to life with transportable exhibits, hands-on activities, live demonstrations and the enthusiasm of our passionate science communicators.

In 2025–26, we engaged with tens of thousands of Western Australians at some of the state’s most iconic events, including the Perth Royal Show, Mandurah Crab Fest, NAIDOC Week Opening Ceremony, and WA Day celebrations in Perth, Newman, Port Hedland and Karratha. By meeting people where they are, we created opportunities for families and communities to engage with STEM in fun, accessible and memorable ways, inspiring curiosity long after the event ended.

• 12 metro community events
• 6 regional community events
• 58,315 community event engagements

Every year, thousands of students visit Scitech to experience hands-on STEM learning that transforms classroom concepts into memorable, real-world experiences.

Through our excursions, we provide students from Kindergarten to Year 12 with opportunities to explore, question and discover in an engaging and interactive environment. Our flexible education programs encourage students to investigate scientific ideas through hands-on exhibits, live demonstrations and facilitated learning experiences led by our passionate science communicators.

By actively participating in STEM activities, students build confidence, develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and deepen their understanding of the world around them.

• 25,069 primary school students attended an excursion
• 7,052 secondary school students attended an excursion

The School Access Program provides selected primary schools with support towards bus transportation and free entry to Scitech, giving students the opportunity to take part in a Scitech excursion who may not otherwise have access due to financial and transport barriers.

Through engaging with Scitech’s hands-on exhibits, planetarium shows, live science shows and interacting with our expert science communicators, students have an immersive and tangible experience, of science that is not possible in the classroom.

Memories from a Scitech excursion give students positive associations with STEM topics that can lead to them retaining what they learnt and developing an ongoing interest in science long after their visit.

• 3,280 students visited Scitech through the School Access Program

In 2025–26, Scitech’s Lighthouse Maths program continued to demonstrate the power of investing in teachers to improve student outcomes in mathematics.

The year-long professional learning program is supported by Chevron Australia, and equips primary teachers with the skills, confidence and resources to use problem-solving and reasoning techniques in their
maths teaching.

Banksia Park Primary School teacher Ferne Watson took part in the program in 2025 and said that while she was confident teaching some strands of maths, she felt out of her depth when trying to plan, teach and assess problem solving and reasoning.

Over the school year, Scitech supported Mrs Watson, her colleague Tess Panomarenko, and 30 other teachers from 16 primary schools in the Perth metro area with one-on-one coaching, workshops and classroom resources.

The result, Mrs Watson said, was improved student results in every aspect of maths.

“My already high-performing Year 6 class made an astonishing two years’ growth in the Australian Council for Education Research’s PAT-M data,” Mrs Watson said.

“Their ability to work collaboratively and be persistent when approaching complex and multi-step problems has also improved exponentially.”

As part of the program, Scitech delivered Mystery of the Mathematical Menace after-school events, allowing parents and carers to experience the skills their children are learning in mathematics through fun, interactive challenges.

In 2026, Lighthouse Maths was made available to teachers outside of the Perth metro area, helping boost mathematics outcomes for regional students.

• 1,808 teacher engagements
• 4,446 student engagements
• 553 parent and community engagements at after school events

The Alcoa Foundation Real World Digital Technologies program continued to help students develop the digital skills, creativity and problem-solving capabilities they will need for the future.

The one-term professional learning program strengthens teachers’ skills in integrating digital technologies into everyday classroom learning.

Year 6 Wellard Village Primary School teacher Natalie Earl took part in the program in 2025 and said Scitech’s support had enabled her to become more confident with digital technologies, including using pocket-sized computers called micro:bits to explore coding with her students.

“The students used their technology and problem-solving skills to program them and troubleshoot when things did not work,” Ms Earl said.

“It was great to see them working together to solve problems and to teach each other – and me!”

As part of the program, Scitech delivered after-school Catch a Hacker events, bringing school communities together to solve digital technology-inspired challenges. As well as being a lot of fun, the events provide valuable opportunities for parents and carers to engage in their children’s learning and have conversations about digital technologies beyond the classroom.

Thanks to the support of Alcoa Foundation, Real World Digital Technologies is made available to teachers in the Kwinana, Peel and South-West regions.

• 73 teacher engagements
• 115 student engagements
• 71 parent and community engagements at Catch a Hacker events

For Dwellingup Primary School teacher Heather Morgan, the thought of teaching digital technologies was overwhelming and anxiety-inducing.

“My fear of digital technologies left me with knees shaking and heart beating rapidly at the thought of failing and not being able to answer students’ questions,” Heather said.

In 2025, Heather decided to conquer her fear head-on, encouraged by her principal to take part in the Alcoa Foundation Champions of Digital Technologies program, delivered by Scitech.

The year-long professional learning program is designed to increase teachers’ digital literacy and ability to meaningfully integrate digital learning across all subject areas.

Heather was one of eight teachers who Scitech supported with coaching, workshops and digital technology resources.

Despite Heather’s initial apprehension, her resilience and dedication enabled her to deliver two curriculum-aligned projects for her Year 1 and 2 students, incorporating coding and a digital book creator app.

“Over the past 9 months, with the continual encouragement, everlasting patience and professional understanding of our Scitech Professional Learning consultant, I was taught some valuable advice and given many suggestions on delivering digital technologies within the classroom curriculum,” Heather said.

“I can say that my fear of digital technologies, in general, has lessened to the degree that I am willing to try incorporating digital technology in my lessons and engaging my students in discovery learning on a regular basis.”

Heather said there had been noticeable benefits for students.

“Since incorporating digital technologies in my curriculum, all students have been engaged and are willing to discover for themselves the best pathways to follow to reach their goals,” Heather said.

“It has made me very, very happy to see all students achieve success.”

Through the support of the Alcoa Foundation, the Champions of Digital Technologies program is offered to teachers in the Jarrahdale-Serpentine, Kwinana and Peel regions.

Scitech brings hands-on science learning directly to schools and communities across Western Australia.

With the support of Woodside Energy, Scitech brings expert facilitators, equipment and resources directly to disadvantaged schools for collaborative, hands-on learning.

Working in teams, students are encouraged to design, build and test creative solutions to real-world challenges. Through experimentation, teamwork and problem solving, they develop resilience, confidence and critical thinking skills while discovering the exciting possibilities of STEM.

The program’s impact often extends well beyond the eight-week experience. At the final STEM Club session at Calista Primary School in 2025, one student was joined by a sibling who had completed the animatronics-focused STEM Club in a previous year. We learnt that the former participant went on to become captain of the school’s robotics club and had qualified to represent their school at a robotics competition in Sydney. Stories like this demonstrate the lasting impact of early STEM engagement.

• 304 student engagements
• 358 parent, teachers and siblings engagements
• 2,487 total engagements

The Mitsui Future Computing program is building Pilbara teachers’ confidence in teaching physical computing and the fundamentals of coding.

The professional learning program supports teachers to gain experience in delivering physical computing lessons using educational robotic kits, through mentoring, classroom resources and in-person and remote modelled lessons.

Thanks to the support of Mitsu Iron Ore, five teachers from Pegs Creek Primary School took part in the program in 2025, and a digital technology specialist teacher from Millars Well Primary School in Karratha is participating in 2026.

Through their participation, teachers are working to embed strategies gained through the program across the whole school, strengthening teaching practice and creating more opportunities for students to develop essential digital skills.

• 142 teacher engagements
• 1,321 student engagements

Scitech continued to inspire regional and remote students through the Schools’ Weather Wall program, delivered in partnership with 7NEWS Regional WA.

Each term, participating schools received weather monitoring equipment, enabling students to collect and record local weather data before sharing their observations for inclusion in the nightly 7NEWS Regional WA weather report.

The program helps students develop scientific skills, including measurement, data collection, analysis, and identifying weather trends and patterns.

For many remote communities, the students are the only ones collecting and reporting weather information across hundreds of kilometres. This unique responsibility fosters a strong sense of civic contribution, and seeing their school featured in the nightly weather bulletin brings together students, parents and the wider community.