Cootamundra High will be the first school in NSW to participate in a national program aimed at bringing Einstein's physics to life using virtual reality, animation and computers.
The unique program, entitled "Mission Gravity", introduces students to Einstein's theories of space, time, matter, light and gravity within the Australian curriculum.
Headed by an educator at an Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence, Jackie Bondell, it was first presented at the European Science Educators Research Association in Italy last year.
Following this premiere, it's been trialed at only a handful of schools before coming to Cootamundra.
It was shown at few schools in Western Australian and Victoria last year, and was due to be shown at Brindabella and Narrabundah colleges in the ACT on Monday and Tuesday, before coming to Cootamundra today.
Ms Bondell is Education and Public Outreach Coordinator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), based at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
Mission Gravity allows one student in each group (who can then swap with others in the group) to travel to and observe stars in a VR headset.
What the students "see" and how they use virtual tools to measure things like the temperature, size and composition of a star, is also projected onto a screen for the other students and teaching staff to witness.
Each group studies a different star and the aim is to determine properties of the star to understand the star's life-cycle from present day to death.
Ms Bondell said the hoped it would be an exciting and inspiring program for Cootamundra students.
"Research has shown that young learners are often engaged by digital and virtual experiences using computer programs, VR headsets and animation to understand complex ideas like gravitational waves."
