Sharing the joy of science: how Lee Constable helps kids become superheroes

Imagine you’re a superhero tasked with solving the world’s big problems. What would your powers be?  

This is a question Lee Constable asks Australia’s schoolkids in her workshops. 

“Kids are really good at imagining the ways that superheroes might use otherwise horrendous bodily functions for good and not evil,” she says. “And I always find that hilarious.”  

The ANU graduate’s work as a writer, presenter and youth mentor has seen her named the University’s 2025 Young Alum of the Year. She uses humour to make science approachable and says this sense of light-heartedness is important to her advocacy.  

“No one wants to be condescended to, regardless of whether you’re an adult or a kid,” Constable says. “Adults want to laugh and be entertained too.”  

Growing up on an 1,100-acre sheep farm in rural New South Wales, Constable was intimately familiar with the destructive power of the climate. 

“Looking back, I was quite anxious,” she says. “Summer was always hot and dry and the time when the bushfire risk was at its highest, so those were the things I associated with the school holidays.” 

A childhood spent handling drought with a family who value nature sparked Constable’s interest in biology. 

“My parents were very concerned about conservation and looking after native grasses. We planted a lot of native trees together,” she says. “Science was a natural thing for me to be interested in as a farm kid.”  

At her high school graduation, Constable sat with just 15 other students. Then, she became the first member of her family to go to university, earning a double degree in science and arts at ANU. Leaving the farm life behind to hit the books in Canberra was somewhat of a culture shock. 

“The connectivity of the internet and phone here made Canberra feel like a big city,” she says, only sort of joking. “If I wanted to text a friend at home, I had to walk up past the hay shed, onto a tall hill and hold my phone in the air to get reception.” 

A few years after finishing her undergraduate studies, Constable returned to ANU for a Master of Science Communication Outreach. As part of her program, she joined Questacon’s Science Circus, a program that makes science fun for kids all over Australia. 

“I was going to a lot of schools that reminded me of my own,” Constable says. “That sort of science museum experience isn’t accessible to everyone. It was really cool to be part of a program that brought that into the regions.”  

When she saw Network Ten was holding auditions for a presenter of the iconic kid’s show Totally wild, Constable put footage of her Science Circus days in her showreel. She didn’t get the job, but the producers were impressed – they asked her to host their science show Scope instead. 

“Because I did the fire show in the Science Circus, I was able to do a lot of the more flammable demonstrations on Scope,” Constable says. “The ‘hands on fire’ is a classic one.”  

“There are ways we can elicit other emotions, like joy, while staying engaged with potentially terrifying topics.”

But the adventures didn’t end there. In 2018, Constable travelled to Antarctica. She recorded her voyage, part of a women-in-STEM initiative, on a wearable camera.  

“I thought – having seen lots of Attenborough – that I knew how I would feel – but it was even more majestic and phenomenal in real life,” she says.  

She used the footage for an eight-hour documentary, which she produced herself and broadcast on the streaming site Twitch.  Constable calls it her ‘Twitch-umentary’. 

“There’s a good community of people who are using Twitch for education, learning and science,” she says. “We did it so that it felt like an immersive co-learning experience, with quizzes and other fun things along the way.”   

Constable has also penned two books for children – How to save the whole stinkin’ planet: a garbological adventure and How to save the whole blinkin’ planet: a renewable energy adventure. 

“One of the reasons I decided to write my books as superhero adventures and with humour is because I know there’s a lot of worry among teachers and parents about eco-anxiety,” she says.  

“There’s this desire to do environmental education in a way that supports students’ well-being and mental health.”  

Constable recently gave an author talk at a library in Muswellbrook. The town is in the Hunter Valley – historically known for coal mining, it’s now an official ‘renewable energy zone’.  

“These kids are on the literal coalface of the energy transition,” Constable says.

“It was really nice to talk to families and kids who have no doubt about the change we’re all a part of. Their focus is more on empowering themselves with information so they can have a thriving community.”  

But as Constable works, the world keeps warming. There’s a lot of frightening things happening already, but that doesn’t mean climate education has to be all doom and gloom. 

“There are ways we can elicit other emotions, like joy, while staying engaged with potentially terrifying topics,” Constable says.   

One of the ways she shares her joy for science is with a drag king persona. Milton Mango is an excitable man with a mullet. His handlebar moustache may be drawn on with Texta, but he has performed at Mardi Gras, interviewed actor and activist Yael Stone, and even helped people find love through a speed-dating event during National Science Week. 

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A post shared by Milton MANgo (@kingmiltonmango)

“He’s an identity I love putting on because he’s inspired by lots of different types of blokes I grew up with,” Constable says.

“He allows me to talk about issues – whether it’s farming, climate or nature – in a comedic way. People respond to Milton in a way that’s totally different to how they respond to Lee.”