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Combine three elements: one part teacher, one part performer and one part dinosaur and you have Jono Shearer’s working day. A member of Questacon’s Excited Particles theatre group, Mr Shearer uses skills honed in the renowned ANU Graduate Diploma in Science Communication at the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science to entertain and educate.
 “We do theatrical science shows around the country — general shows for families and shows that are more talks than theatre for adults. In the latest one I get to be a puppet dinosaur!”
Watching science communicated in an interesting and entertaining way as a child was major factor in choosing this unusual career path.
“Seeing the Circus was definitely a big influence,” said Mr Shearer.
“I think the Circus and all the TV shows that made science fun encouraged my interest in science.”
This childhood interest became a passion for science that drove him to study the subject at Australia’s national university, the place that trained the inspiring science communicators he had seen a few years earlier.
After completing his degree in biology and chemistry, his teachers suggested he apply for the Science Communication diploma.
“I had done a few of the undergraduate science communication courses and they were great, but I hadn’t really considered doing the diploma. I didn’t realise how many jobs there were in science communication until I got a diploma in it.
“I had no theatrical experience before I did the diploma — but now I’m an actor, comedian and puppeteer.”
Last year his job at Questacon saw him spend plenty of time back at his old university checking out the latest breakthroughs in scientific research to turn into shows for older high school students as part of the Smart Moves program.
“With Smart Moves we can go fairly in depth into subjects like nanotechnology. We cover really cutting-edge research and the best place to find out what’s going on is where they are doing this research, which is right on our doorstep at ANU.
“Because of Questacon’s 18-year history with the ANU, people are always really happy to help.”
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