When 19 Year Five primary school students and their teachers from St Laurence’s Catholic School at Dubbo made a three-hour excursion to Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Dubbo on Friday 28 August, they did scientific observations that provided practical insights into the work of scientists in the field and in the laboratory. Dr Patricia Logan, a lecturer with the School of Biomedical Science at CSU says the University is committed to nurturing the region’s future young scientists through its support of the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. “The CSIRO program is a system that pairs schools with an institutional scientist, such as university science lecturers like me, so that schools and school children can gain access to working scientists,” Dr Logan said. “The children collected water and plant samples from the reserve area below the campus and brought them back to the laboratory where they had a chance to look at their samples under the microscopes. They also had the opportunity to look closely at some plant, shell and coral fossils, as well as a trilobite from the Forbes area.”