Around the KLA's - students and their learning
HSIE
Mrs Cherie Stoessel
Welcome back to the new school term to students and all in the O'Connor community. This is a big term for our senior students as year 11 enters their final term of their preliminary courses while year 12 students have trial examinations fast approaching and will then enter a period of revision in preparation for their HSC exams.
Third term is also when junior students change the focus of their studies in HSIE. Our students in years 7 and 8 have commenced their study of History for the semester. Year 7 students are discovering how historians and archaeologists work and will be learning about life in Ancient Australia from the material remains; year 8 students are studying the Western and Islamic Worlds during the Middle Ages. Students in years 9 and 10 have started studying Geography. Year 9 are learning about Biomes and Food Security across the world, while year 10 are examining patterns of Urbanisation.
PDHPE
Welcome Mr Moore!
The PDHPE has welcomed Mr Jamie Moore into their department and he has hit the ground running. When our College photographer was exploring the school, Mr Moore was found to be conducting a great game of Touch Football with his Year 8 class.
Child Studies visits TG's
At the end of last Term, students studying Child Studies at O’Connor Catholic College visited TG's Child Care Centre.
The students were able to participate in our high quality curriculum during their visit and see first hand an exceeding Early Childhood environment in action.
PDHPE Department Electives Information
Year 8 into 9 Subject Selections
Students are able to elect the following subjects for Yr 8 & 9:
PASS
Child Studies
Yr 10 into 11 Subject Selections
Students are able to elect the following subjects for Yr 11 & 12:
PDHPE - Personal Development, Health & Physical Education
CAFS - Community and Family Studies
EEC - Exploring Early Childhood
SLR - Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation
Science
Mr Daniel Fittler / Mrs Lilly Moar
This term has started with a range of new and exciting topics for students to wrap their brains around and develop their inner scientist. Those topics are:
- Year 7 - The Circle of Life (Ecology)
- Year 8 - Rock your world (Geology)
- Year 9 - Energetic Issues (Understanding Energy)
- Year 10 - Chemistry of the Atom (Chemistry)
At the end of Rerm 2, year 7 had the challenge of making Rube Goldberg Machines - contraptions that make a simple task complicated. The challenge was to get a soft drink can into a box in the most elaborate way possible. This was a great task to round out a unit on forces as the students had to employ the skills they had learnt throughout the term to complete the challenge. Many groups used dominos, ramps with marbles, small demolition balls, balloons, straws and cardboard tubes. The students got very involved in the challenge and were able to make some fantastic contraptions. All students should be commended on the ingenuity they used throughout the process. While they were all deserving of a prize, there was one stand-out group that took out the grand prize on offer for the day and a video of their Rube Goldberg Machine can be seen below. As you can tell from the video, they were very pleased that their contraption worked.
DOMINO EFFECT: THAT MOMENT IN TIME WHEN YOU REALISE IT IS GOING TO WORK.
PURE EXCITEMENT: RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINES IN ACTION.
Meanwhile, the year 11 Physics students have been working on constructing rockets at the beginning of this term. Their rockets are made from cardboard, masking tape and lots of glue. At the base of the rocket is a hobby rocket class B pyrotechnic engine.
On launch day the students strapped an altimeter (a device that measures the height that the rocket reaches by taking samples of air pressure) to their rocket and determine how high their rocket went and how quickly it got there. From these measurements, the students will analyse the performance of their rockets and work out ways to increase the height that they can achieve next time. From their preliminary results, they have identified that weight was one of the biggest factors against them this time. Maybe, in the not too distant future, these students will join the other billionaires launching their own space exploration co-operations.
TAKING OFF: MR FITTLER AND HIS PHYSICS CLASS LAUNCHING THE ROCKET IN SPECTACULAR FORM ON THURSDAY.
TAS
Mr Jon Hawthorne
NBN and Amazon Web Services Host "Choose Your Own Adventure STEM Careers Day"
A number of O'Connor students registered to participate in the "Choose Your Own Adventure STEM Careers Day" inspired by NBN and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The virtual event was all about demonstrating to female students, considering a pathway in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that there is a thriving industry filled with female developers, technology entrepreneurs and engineers, scientists, and mathematicians.
Diverse representation in many areas of STEM is sorely lacking, whether in mainstream science programs or industry-specific roles. This lack of diverse role models today impacts our ability to attract more students to address this imbalance.
The presentation emphasised that there are endless pathways to STEM careers starting with career stories from graduates, scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians that have taken less than conventional pathways to STEM careers.
The presenters included:
Debbie Taylor. Chief Information Officer, nbn
Natalie Field. Chief Technology Officer, Belong
Ally Watson Founder & CEO, Code Like a Girl
Riya Patel Student, Blacktown Girls High School
Tiffany Okewole Senior Software & Systems Engineering Manager, nbn
Julina Lim Co-op Scholar and Chemical Engineering student at UNSW
Jen Beer Head of Health and Education - Regional and Remote, nbn
Maria Sokolova Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
Adam Field Account Manager, Amazon Web Services