Audio Transcript

Published: February, 2018
APA 7 Citation: Newsome, B. (Host). (2018, February). Student STEM tours with Latitude Group Travel [Audio podcast transcript]. Fizzics Education.
https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/podcast/fizzicsed/student-stem-tours-with-latitude-group-travel/

Ben Newsome CF is the recipient of the 2023 UTS Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and a Churchill Fellow. He is a global leader in science communication and the founder of Fizzics Education.

[00:00:00]
Announcer: You’re listening to the Fizzics Ed Podcast. For hundreds of ideas, free experiments and more, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. And now, here’s your host, Ben Newsome.

[00:00:15]
Ben Newsome: Welcome again to another Fizzics Ed Podcast. This week it’s really a bit of fun because we get to talk about travelling with students, generally getting them on a bus or even better, on a plane to somewhere highly unique and highly educational. This is what Latitude Group Travel does and has been doing for a very long time. Today we get to speak with Jenny Murphy, who’s the CEO, and I tell you what, she has travelled the globe with students doing some really cool stuff.

[00:00:50]
Ben Newsome: In this chat, we get to speak about not only what they’ve been doing worldwide—and seriously, they go to some very awesome places—but also how they’re linking up with some of the programmes that have to be done in New South Wales and around the place due to the Year 11 and 12 depth studies, which I know some of our high school teachers listening know very much is a big deal in New South Wales. So, without further ado, let’s listen to what Jenny’s been doing and the team at Latitude Group Travel. It’s really lots of fun.

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Ben Newsome: Jenny, welcome to the Fizzics Ed Podcast.

[00:01:24]
Jenny Murphy: It’s lovely to be here, thanks, Ben.

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Ben Newsome: Oh, absolutely. I’m really excited to have you on because what you’re doing is very unique and quite different to many of the other guests who’ve been on this podcast. Now, obviously I know you, Jenny, but there’ll be people here who haven’t met you yet. So, Jenny, what do you get up to?

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Jenny Murphy: We actually provide tours for students, and that probably doesn’t sound like it’s new either, but the way that we approach study tours is quite different. We’re very focused on linking it to the curriculum for each subject and for each curriculum that’s taught. It might be a particular state curriculum, it might be International Baccalaureate, or an international curriculum. We get hold of those and actually use them to help us design the tours.

[00:02:18]
Jenny Murphy: We design the tours with a lot of experiential learning activities. So, that’s a lot of hands-on activities where the kids are engaged, they’re interested, and we find that if it’s just sightseeing, they get a little bit bored. This way they’re learning and there are actual real learning outcomes as a result of the tours that we do, which I think is very important.

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Ben Newsome: Oh, and I was absolutely excited just to look up what Latitude Group Travel does. You go to Costa Rica, Mexico, India, Nepal, South Africa, USA. You’ve got one of those jobs that everyone would dream of.

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Jenny Murphy: Well, we do, except unfortunately, we don’t always go, which is a shame. But we do, we love organising tours. We can do it anywhere really in the world. It’s all about research and it’s all about knowing your product. So, we can design really any tour for any subject or even a combination of subjects and take student groups anywhere in the world. There’s pretty well nowhere we don’t go, except somewhere that’s not safe.

[00:03:29]
Ben Newsome: That would be a good idea, I reckon.

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Jenny Murphy: It would be a good idea. So, we always listen to what the government says with their smart traveller notifications.

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Ben Newsome: No worries. So, you really are almost like a classroom on legs. It’s very cool that some of the places that you get to visit are outstanding. We’ll certainly get into that, but just out of curiosity, Jenny, how did you fall into this line of work?

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Jenny Murphy: It’s an interesting story, actually. My husband and business partner was a tour director for a student tour company in the United States and we were living there for a number of years. When we came back to Australia, we looked at what was being offered and we felt that there was a niche there that allowed us to offer something a bit different. Because I’d run businesses before and he knew a lot about student travel, we got together and started Latitude Group Travel with this focus on experiential learning and curriculum linkage. That’s how we did it.

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Ben Newsome: And wind it forward, now you’re doing all these awesome tours. I love the fact that you’re saying it’s not just about tours. It’s not just jumping on a bus and, “Hey, we’re at this destination now.” My understanding is you have tour leaders that really guide the kids to a level that just doesn’t seem to be around for other places.

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Jenny Murphy: That’s so true. We have a tour director that accompanies every tour and that’s for a number of reasons. One is for safety, that they add a large degree of safety to the groups by knowing the countries, knowing which way the traffic goes, knowing where the hospitals are and medical facilities, that sort of thing. But they also provide knowledgeable commentary. Let’s say we’re going to the US for an American Revolution tour, and they’ll know all about the American Revolution.

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Jenny Murphy: Where they have some gaps, we’ll actually employ specialist guides. So, for example, on the Western Front in France and Belgium, we have guides that know all about World War I from the Australian point of view. So, not only do we have our tour directors, but we also have specialist guides and there’s never a point at which we’re not providing expert facilitators, even if it’s for an experiential learning activity.

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Jenny Murphy: Maybe I can use an example now. On the Western Front, we have a fantastic experience where the students actually dress up as soldiers from a particular march in March 1917, and they walk the trail that that troop walked. They become the character, one of the people that was in that troop. They eat the food, they carry the guns, they experience the whole thing all day.

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Jenny Murphy: At the end of the day, they find out the fate of the person that they are portraying in that experience. It really brings home just what sort of experience the young boys had at that time in the Somme all those years ago. There’s no other way to give them that experience other than this sort of experiential learning activity.

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Ben Newsome: Absolutely. I can imagine just wanting to jump on one of these tours myself. You take students to the Kennedy Space Center, you’ve taken them to CERN in Switzerland. These are high-end places. How do you go about organising such a site to let students in and then, more importantly, not just watch what happens but actually get involved?

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Jenny Murphy: We, first of all, we’re not afraid to call anybody out of the blue. So, once we’ve done a lot of research and we’ve identified where we want to take the students, we’ll really just call them, whether they have an education programme or not, and ask them to develop an education programme for us. We’re pretty knowledgeable about what we want, so we can usually give them a very good brief. There are very few companies that aren’t interested in actually having students from Australia come and see what they do. Even places like CERN are interested.

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Jenny Murphy: Knowing when you have to book and how you have to book those sorts of things, and booking them early enough so that those places will let you in. So, a lot of it for us is research and identifying who it is we want to see and then just calling. That is not something that’s very common and that’s why we get into such unusual places.

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Ben Newsome: Well, that’s what I was going at. In my head, I’m just thinking it’s not just a series of, “Hey, this is our package and we’re going to this site yet again for the 10th time in a row.” It sounds like you have the opportunity as a teacher that you could actually ask and say, “Hey, we really want to go check out this site,” or at least something around this particular learning outcome, and you put it together. That’s an awesome thing to do.

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Jenny Murphy: I should have said that’s probably because we actually custom design every single itinerary. We have nothing on the shelf. Of course, we use some of the experiences that we’ve used before, but we actually custom design every single itinerary and that means the teacher gets exactly what they want. We can focus on their learning outcomes that they’re wanting for their students, whereas I understand I think in general there are mostly just sightseeing tours that are the same. We just like to be different.

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Ben Newsome: What are some of the more interesting requests you’ve had or one of the more unusual briefs that you would have had to fulfil over the years?

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Jenny Murphy: Oh, gosh, I knew you were going to ask me that, Ben. You just mentioned one of them, actually, which was one of the STEM tours that we did through Europe. It was interesting in the beginning because we weren’t aware of—we were aware of CERN, of course—but we weren’t aware necessarily of all that was available across Europe. Since then, we’ve found tens of places that we can go to in each of the countries in Europe that are really cutting edge.

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Jenny Murphy: It’s not that we don’t have the same sort of cutting-edge places in Australia, but if people are wanting to travel to Europe, it’s quite extraordinary what’s there. There’s, for example, a glass laboratory where students can go in and do a day of chemistry experiments. I mention that it’s a glass laboratory just because that’s unusual. But all sorts of places. There’s a Living Tomorrow, which is like a museum really with cutting-edge robotics and smart houses, that sort of thing. So, really exciting.

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Jenny Murphy: But I would say just as equally, some of the history tours we’ve done have been absolutely fascinating. We’ve recently done one for a school that’s wanting to combine ancient Greece and Italy with medieval England. We didn’t have a lot of time for any of the places, so we really researched medieval England, which you would think is everywhere, and it is. But to find those sort of activities that they can do, they’re actually going to a Guildhall to have a talk by members of the guild. They’re going to a heraldry, or the only heraldry company that does all the coats of arms, and they’re going to have a talk with those sort of people. They’re very unusual activities.

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Ben Newsome: Absolutely. So, don’t knock the glass laboratory. I know that there’s a fantastic thing that goes around called Prince Rupert’s drops, which is, for those people who are unaware of it, if you drop molten glass into water, it forms like this teardrop. A lot of physics has been done recently around this because these teardrops, you could literally shoot them with a bullet and they will not shatter yet they’re made out of glass. But if you twist the tail, it will shatter. It literally goes everywhere. So, by the way, yeah, wear safety glasses if you’ve got Prince Rupert’s drops doing this. But the physics of glass and chemistry of glass is just as important, even though we’ve been using it for a very, very long time.

[00:12:30]
Ben Newsome: But yeah, this is the thing, obviously you’re mixing key learning areas, which makes it very vibrant and unique for each tour. One of the things that grabbed my attention just looking through your site was, hey, you take the kids rock climbing—we can take kids rock climbing, there’s plenty of places that would do that—but then you go into the biomechanics of it. That’s cool.

[00:12:51]
Jenny Murphy: That’s actually exactly true. We don’t just do something for the sake of it, I think that’s the most important point. A good example, I think, would be our performing arts tours where instead of taking perhaps one of the genres of performing arts, so just drama or just dance, we’ll take all of them. So dance, drama, vocal, instrumental, and even often visual arts or media. We’ll have all of those groups split up doing workshops concurrently and all coming back together to do something perhaps in the afternoon and then going off again and doing six different workshops that afternoon.

[00:13:29]
Jenny Murphy: That’s highly unusual. It means that we can tailor workshops for exactly what the group needs. So the dancers don’t have to go to a drama workshop just because there’s not enough people or because it’s actually a dance tour or what have you. Every time we look at an activity, we look at how can we make it hands-on or looking at a place, how can we find that hands-on activity to do.

[00:14:00]
Ben Newsome: Now, obviously giving a chance for kids to actually experience first-hand, the first-hand investigation of a particular experiment or site is critically important, otherwise why would they be getting involved? But then I guess imagining behind it is obviously all the background preparation to be able to get the students eventually onto a plane and overseas. What are some of the common questions that come up? I imagine they circle around safety and all that type of thing.

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Ben Newsome: If you had someone listening in who was interested in this type of thing, what sort of things do you normally find that you can answer without even having to think too hard about the safety or whatnot, how you look after them?

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Jenny Murphy: Oh, safety certainly. That has got to be our number one priority having all these students and teachers, in a way, in our hands, and it’s really important to us. So, we have really well-written and well-thought-out safety documentation. We have our tour director who has that documentation and knows exactly what to do if something happens. In fact, our insurance people are very proud of us for that. I believe they’re the best that they’ve seen.

[00:15:18]
Jenny Murphy: And we’re always looking at ways or situations where things might occur. For example, something simple is just students getting off a coach. Because if they’re getting off a coach in a country where the cars go the other way, they may well not look in the right direction. So, we have a process where the teachers get off first and the tour director, and they make sure that the students are all together and are told to look left instead of right. And it might sound a little bit minor, but it’s so easy for someone to be run over just not looking the right way.

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Jenny Murphy: And there are obviously things that are more serious. These days, I know people worry about terrorism. I would say that the countries that have been involved in terrorism are far more safe perhaps than we realise because they now have enormous protection and security around the place. But we also have a procedure where we know exactly what to do if something happens and that we’re in touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to follow their instructions to the letter. And I think one of the things that I would ask if I were a teacher is what sort of safety precautions does an organisation have and do they know how to handle a situation?

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Ben Newsome: Absolutely. It sounds like it’s common sense, but actually having procedures in place is far more valuable and having people who know what to actually do as opposed to it being a document that collects dust somewhere is very much important.

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Jenny Murphy: It’s really, really important. It’s vital. And look, one of the reasons we have tour directors, as I mentioned before, is because of the safety situation as well as providing the knowledge. And I think that’s not common again amongst organisations that provide study tours for students, and I think it’s something really to think about, that it’s well worth having one. I think once you have, teachers will never go back without one.

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Ben Newsome: Yeah. This is the thing, you’ve got a lot of exciting opportunities and obviously well carefully thought out and you’ve been doing this for quite a few years, but at the same point, the syllabus keeps changing, the curriculum keeps changing, which makes our life a bit harder. And knowing this, knowing full well some of the things that are coming in through even across our desks with the new HSC. So, those people who are overseas, a Higher School Certificate is our Year 12 thing, and it’s done over a two-year period effectively and they’ve got all these outcomes that have been around for many years in physics and chemistry and biology and whatnot, and then they change it.

[00:17:55]
Ben Newsome: And then everyone has to really quickly reconfigure in their head. Have you got things coming up to suit that need which is coming up in 2018?

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Jenny Murphy: We actually do. We’re working right now on depth studies for Years 11 and 12, obviously for Year 11 initially, for New South Wales science subjects for all of the subjects. And for most of the modules, we’re really selecting the modules that probably have the most exciting excursions. And we’re looking at three days to cover their 15-hour requirement for each subject. And we’re looking at, rather than doing this in a lab necessarily or in a classroom, we’re really looking at these depth studies being experiences on site somewhere. So, outside in the field so that they’re real-world experiences rather than something that perhaps the class could already do. And I’m hoping that teachers will be really excited by this. And in fact, you’re helping us with one of the subjects too, aren’t you, Ben?

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Ben Newsome: Well, certainly we’re creating something out of nothing in some ways, but we certainly are putting it together. And that’s the thing, that’s purely why I was asking the question about what’s coming up. Obviously the educators listening to this would know full well that the curriculum changes all the time, but for a company such as yourselves, you might have an experience that’s a go-to place and all of a sudden the curriculum changes. That means you nearly have to change everything of that experience.

[00:19:26]
Jenny Murphy: Yes, nearly. And we do. That’s one of the reasons that we take the curriculum so seriously. We need to keep up to date with it all the time so that we are aware of these sorts of things and so we can provide solutions for teachers where solutions really don’t exist at the moment. So, these depth studies I think will be a really exciting opportunity for teachers to take their students away and, as I say, to do something in the real world, whether it’s chemistry, physics, biology, or earth and environmental science—and I could go on. I’m hoping that teachers will contact us when we release this, or by hearing this, so that they can see some of what we’ve developed. As you know, it’s very exciting for each subject.

[00:20:04]
Ben Newsome: Absolutely. Actually just out of pure curiosity, obviously you’re taking Australian students abroad. Have you had inquiries from people in other countries to take their students around the place?

[00:20:13]
Jenny Murphy: Yes, we have actually. In particular from India and China and Hong Kong, we’ve had quite a lot of students, and actually Argentina’s been the latest one where we’ve actually had a lot of schools contacting us, particularly I think because we handle the IB curriculum, which is quite common overseas, and we specialise in being able to handle that, but as well as that because of the difference in the sort of activities or itineraries that we produce.

[00:20:52]
Jenny Murphy: So, one of our Hong Kong schools, for example, asked us to develop a five-day real-world design challenge, and we thought that it was so good at the end of it that we’re going to release it to Australian schools as well. So, they’ll have an opportunity if they wish to have a five-day programme working on design thinking and where students are solving a real-world problem that they’ve identified in their own communities, which I think will be fantastic.

[00:21:18]
Ben Newsome: Sounds fantastic. It sounds like your passport’s just filled with lots of stamps.

[00:21:24]
Jenny Murphy: Well, yes. Yes, but more importantly, I hope the schools’ passports are filled with many stamps. I’m hoping so. And also, look, I think what we’re trying to do is become education providers in a number of different ways. So, we believe that our tours are educational tours in the true sense of the word, and so we want to provide some sort of other educational experiences like the depth studies that the students will need. Mostly that will be in Australia, but we have some ideas about perhaps going to New Zealand.

[00:22:01]
Jenny Murphy: And also the real-world design challenge. We have another programme called Mission Discovery, which brings the NASA astronaut and NASA personnel to Australia to run a five-day programme here rather than having to go to the expense of going to the States. So, that’s another opportunity. So, we’re also developing these programmes in Australia just to try and allow schools that perhaps couldn’t go overseas to have access to these sort of programmes.

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Ben Newsome: I agree, equity is very important. Unfortunately, sadly, not everyone can afford these trips, but then again, if you can do it in-house effectively in the domestic way, that’s great. You then open up opportunities for kids and especially considering that, knowing full well that those depth studies that you mentioned, they’re very—they are prescribed, they are things that we’ve got to do. To be able to offer an opportunity for students to genuinely create something of real investigative value is awesome. It’s fantastic.

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Ben Newsome: Just out of interest, like if you had to give some advice to some teachers considering doing something like this to send their kids abroad and obviously accompanying them to go find out what they’re finding out too, what are the sort of things that they would need to, you know, at least prepare? What is some advice that you’d do to prepare your students to be able to go overseas and have one of these adventures?

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Jenny Murphy: I think one of the things firstly is for the teacher to be really clear about what they want to achieve out of the tour so that they can brief the company really well. But I do think that the company that they’re using should be helping to prepare the students for going overseas. That’s a big part of our job is to help them understand what’s required, how to go about getting their visas, their vaccinations, how to pack, what to pack. So, I think while the teachers are obviously responsible for the students on a day-to-day basis, they really need a partner in crime and they should be looking for organisations that are going to provide that.

[00:24:14]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, that makes sense. And so obviously you’ve got all that documentation and all that ready to go for them and obviously available to connect with them if you had to.

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Jenny Murphy: Well, we do. And in fact, we do a couple of presentations. We do one first of all when the school accepts the proposal, and so we then introduce the tour to the parents and the students that are interested. But we also come back about four to six weeks prior to them leaving to cover off all of the things I just mentioned so that students are really aware of all the things they need to do. And we provide travel notes along with that to support what we’re saying.

[00:24:55]
Jenny Murphy: So, I think it’s important that again that the company’s prepared to come out to the school and meet with the students and with the parents because they worry about who’s taking their child away and whether they have a safety protocol or not, how often they’ve done these sort of trips, what sort of trips they are. So, I think it is important to make sure that your provider really gets involved with you as a school and understands you as a school. That would be one of the first pieces of advice I would certainly give.

[00:25:25]
Ben Newsome: I bet. And now I know 2017 as we record this is starting to wind down, but you’ve got a lot of stuff lined up for 2018. Where—what’s your first trip in 2018? Where are you going first just out of interest?

[00:25:42]
Jenny Murphy: Oh, gosh, that’s a good question. I have a feeling that our first trip in 2018 in April, I think is a performing arts tour to New York and LA. And we have about eight or nine going out in April, all different tours. We have STEM tours, we have history tours, we have geography tours going out at that time to New Zealand, which is a fascinating tour, actually. That’s a full geography tour with a geography expert every step of the way, so that’ll be fun. So, we’re all over the place, all over the world.

[00:26:18]
Ben Newsome: Wow. You are going to have a lot of fun. I can hear that for sure.

[00:26:23]
Jenny Murphy: Well, if I were going, it would be a lot of fun. But I just get to stay at home and think about what sort of things we’re doing. I’m involved obviously in a lot of the strategic work, looking at when the curriculum changes again and looking at the different sorts of programmes that we can offer more generally. And I have some wonderful staff that do a lot of the research for the specific itineraries that we do. And look, if I could only think of some of the unusual places that we go and the things that we do… Well, for example, I think we’re taking one school to Iceland next year, we’re taking another to Peru and the Galápagos—I can’t say it! So really all over the place.

[00:27:06]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, and I’d still argue that you’re still having fun because creating these journeys are part of it. That’s one of the fun parts about working at Fizzics is the sheer number of programmes we run and often it’s because people have asked us to put them together. And that’s where the fun comes in.

[00:27:26]
Jenny Murphy: We can’t not love it, can you? Oh, yeah, it’s great. Lots of fun. Absolutely. Yeah, I think you have to love it and you have to really love why you’re doing it. For us, it’s all about the students and really all the stakeholders: the students, the parents, the teacher and the school. It’s about providing something really special so that students get the proper learning outcomes but have fun along the way. It’s about the teachers so that we support what they’re teaching in the classroom. It’s about the parents not having to pay too much for these sorts of experiences. And it’s about the school having something really different that they can use as a marketing tool. Because what we do is just so unique. There isn’t anybody in Australia, I don’t even think internationally, that’s doing what we’re doing. So, yeah, it is important to really love what you do and do it for the right reasons.

[00:28:22]
Ben Newsome: Couldn’t agree more. Hey, Jenny, thank you so much for jumping on the podcast. I know that you’ve got a lot to plan, especially as you have to implement this new curriculum—not of yours, obviously, you’ve just got to respond to it—New South Wales, but then again you also have programmes happening throughout Australia. And look, awesome. And personally, obviously looking forward to putting together some bits and pieces as things come up. But for those people listening in, please just drop Jenny a line at Latitude Group Travel. And how do they get in touch with you in the first place?

[00:28:54]
Jenny Murphy: If they’d like to either call us on 03 9646 4200—sorry, 9646 4200—and if you’re overseas, add plus in front of the 613 9646 4200, or you can certainly email me on jenny, j-e-n-n-y, at latitudegrouptravel.com.au. And certainly look up our website, or you can certainly contact us straight from the website.

[00:29:23]
Ben Newsome: Absolutely. And we’ll put that all in the show notes as well. And Latitude Group Travel is all one word, by the way, so just type it all in dot com dot au and people can find out what’s going on. Look, much appreciated, Jenny, and no doubt we’ll catch up again. But until then, have a fantastic end of year and we’ll catch you another time soon.

[00:29:41]
Jenny Murphy: And you too, Ben. Thanks very much for your time.

[00:29:44]
Announcer: You’ve been listening to another Fizzics Ed Podcast. We’re excited about science. Subscribe to us on iTunes to download the next episode as soon as it’s released. And don’t forget, for hundreds of ideas, free experiments, our new Be Amazing book and more, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. That’s physics spelled F I Z Z I C S.

[00:30:02]
Ben Newsome: And there you go. We were speaking with Jenny Murphy from Latitude Group Travel and you can really tell they really are passionate about what they do. They’re very much about inspiring kids to learn about their world. And actually, if you jump on their website you’ll see yes, they do a lot of STEM, but they also do a lot of stuff too in art, in history, all sorts of things to get kids into learning. And I really love how they’re creating custom itineraries for teachers, which means it’s not just stuff off the shelf, it’s stuff that you get to create and that’s just so important.

[00:30:31]
Announcer: This is the Fizzics Ed Podcast. We’re all about science, ed tech and more. To see 100 fun free experiments you can do with your class, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. That’s physics spelled F I Z Z I C S and click 100 free experiments.

[00:30:33]
Ben Newsome: If you’re going to go get kids on a plane or a bus and take them somewhere, you kind of want to make sure that the place that you’re going is the sort of place that kids want to check out in the first place. I tell you what, they will learn a lot more when they want to be there. And last week, we got to hear from Stephen Rumbold, who’s actually involved with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. That’s in the heart of Queensland, and I reckon the kids would want to go there.

[00:30:54]
Stephen Rumbold: As soon as we get down to the rock layer where the bones are going to be, basically we start showing people what is the difference between the rock and the actual fossil bone. And really, as soon as we can start to see where the rock ends and the fossil begins, if it’s your first day in the dig, we’ll get you straight into digging out that dinosaur bone.

[00:31:12]
Ben Newsome: Imagine taking kids on a dinosaur dig. Seriously, they get to do it in Winton at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. It’s very cool, and I reckon it’s the sort of place that Latitude Group Travel would certainly be able to help you out with doing. How fun!

[00:31:25]
Ben Newsome: It’s definitely worth checking out last week’s episode because it was such an interesting chat with an interesting site. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is one of my favourite spots to visit and guess what? I get to go there next week, which is going to be so much fun.

[00:31:43]
Ben Newsome: Speaking of fun, next week we get to speak with two of the finalists from the 3 Minute Thesis pitch event which happened last year at the University of New South Wales. What’s that all about? Well, it’s actually the researchers, the postgraduate students at the University of New South Wales School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Every year they do this great event where they’ve only got three minutes to tell a general audience what they’ve been studying. It was a lot of fun and I got to be a judge in that late last year, so it’s well worth checking that out.

[00:32:04]
Ben Newsome: But until then, I hope you make your science classrooms, your museums, your zoos, wherever you happen to work, as engaging and as informative as possible. You’ve been listening to me, Ben Newsome from Fizzics Education, and you’ve been listening to the Fizzics Ed Podcast. I’ll catch you next week.

[00:32:16]
Announcer: You’ve been listening to another Fizzics Ed Podcast. We’re excited about science. Subscribe to us on iTunes to download the next episode as soon as it’s released. And don’t forget, for hundreds of ideas, free experiments, our new Be Amazing book and more, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. That’s physics spelled F I Z Z I C S.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Latitude Group Travel tours different from standard sightseeing tours?
Unlike traditional sightseeing tours that follow a set “off-the-shelf” package, these tours are custom-designed to link directly with specific curriculum requirements, such as the International Baccalaureate or state-based syllabuses. The focus is on experiential learning, ensuring students achieve real learning outcomes through hands-on activities rather than passive observation.

How does the organisation ensure student safety during international travel?
Safety is the top priority, supported by detailed documentation and a dedicated tour director who accompanies every group. These directors are trained to manage local risks—such as traffic direction changes—and follow strict protocols in the event of an emergency. The organisation also maintains close communication with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to follow all travel advisories to the letter.

What are the new “depth studies” being offered for New South Wales students?
To meet the 15-hour requirement for the new Year 11 and 12 science syllabus in New South Wales, Latitude Group Travel has developed three-day on-site field experiences. These programmes allow students to complete their investigations in real-world environments across subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, and earth and environmental science.

Can teachers request a tour for a combination of different subjects?
Yes. Because every itinerary is custom-designed, the team can create multi-disciplinary tours. For example, a tour might combine performing arts (drama, dance, and music) or integrate history with ancient language studies. This flexibility allows schools to cater to various student groups simultaneously while maintaining high-quality, specialised workshops for each.

Are there high-level STEM opportunities available for schools that cannot travel overseas?
Recognising that international travel is not accessible for every student, the organisation offers domestic programmes like “Mission Discovery”. This five-day programme brings NASA astronauts and personnel to Australia, providing a high-impact STEM experience locally and ensuring greater equity in access to world-class educational opportunities.

Extra thought ideas to consider

The Role of “Personification” in Historical Empathy
The interview highlights an activity where students dress as soldiers and “become” a specific historical figure, only learning their fate at the end of the day. Consider how this level of immersion changes a student’s emotional connection to history compared to reading a textbook. Does the “lived experience” of a curriculum outcome lead to better long-term retention and a more profound understanding of global citizenship?

Moving Beyond the “Sightseeing” Stigma in School Travel
There is often a debate regarding whether international school trips are “holidays” or “education”. Jenny Murphy argues that the difference lies in curriculum mapping and expert facilitation. Discuss the value of having a dedicated tour director who provides academic commentary versus a standard travel guide. How can schools better communicate the rigorous academic nature of these trips to parents and stakeholders?

Designing for Design Thinking
With the introduction of a five-day “real-world design challenge”, students are encouraged to solve problems within their own communities using design thinking. Reflect on the importance of taking students out of their comfort zones to spark innovation. How can the skills learned during an intensive five-day travel programme be successfully reintegrated into the regular classroom environment back home?