The Junior Science Olympiad Talent Development Program (JSO TDP) is a national invitation-only online program offered to high-performing students under 16 years from underrepresented areas. We previously heard about the initial 4 week Taster Program.

The JSO TDP is currently on Stage 3 of Term 1, with an exam period planned to run on the week of 10 April 2026. Students meet online twice a week. On Wednesdays they learn about Biology taught by Dr Jane Mooney. On Thursdays they explore Earth and Environmental Science with Sebastian Viner, an ASI alum and now tutor and teacher.

Sebastian, known as Seb, shared the highlights for Earth and Environmental Science lessons thus far.

“Probably the biggest highlight was the chance for students to build their own climate model in an Excel spreadsheet. On a functional level, this taught students some of the basics of modelling, but perhaps more importantly they leant some of the basics of Excel (like creating graphs, auto-filling cells and using functions) that will be relevant in most any career they end up in.

The climate model relied on the concept of an energy balance (that is, the vast majority of the energy that comes into the planet must leave the planet, otherwise we would heat up very rapidly).

Students had a set of instructions on how to simulate the energy reaching the planet and energy leaving the planet, and then multiplied the change by a time step (say, a year) to create a longer term model.

Once they had a functional model, they were encouraged to play around with different scenarios and see the effect they would cause – say, covering the whole planet in ice, or moving the planet further from the sun.”

The aims of the TD Program are to provide a diverse group of students across Australia with the opportunity to follow their interest in science, make new friends, and support them to perform well in future Australian Science Olympiads.

Students invited to the program include those who performed well in the JSO Exam, or other ASI programs, and who are from historically underrepresented areas, such as regional, remote, and low socioeconomic schools, Australian indigenous background, gender diverse, etc.

We are pleased to welcome 35 students from rural and regional areas participating this term, such as from Taroona High School in Tasmania, Bundaberg State High School and Cairns State High School in Queensland, alongside those from other areas of Australia, such as Canberra and Sydney.

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We acknowledge and thank Waratah Education Foundation for their sponsorship of the JSO Talent Development Program.

We wish to thank 3M for their ongoing support of the JSO Talent Development Program.

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Learn more about the Talent Development Program here.