Secondary Science
Year 10 Science
Students in Year 10 Science have started studying the structure of the Periodic Table and the properties of different elements. Students are enjoying participating in many experiments. One of these experiments involved students designing a suitable experiment to compare different metals by conducting flame tests to see the different bright colours that metals create when heated. This is, in fact, the basis of fireworks. Students learnt that the colours created by fireworks are formed from excited electrons. The energy they emit corresponds to a particular colour of light.
Miriam Karelsky
Science Teacher
Year 11 Biology
In Unit 1 of Biology, students have been learning about the passage of molecules across membranes and how membrane selectivity contributes to survival by regulating the movement of substances into and out of the cell. In this practical activity, students examined the movement of small molecules (glucose, water, and iodine) and large molecules (starch) across an artificial membrane made of cellulose. The membrane contains small pores, and only molecules small enough to pass through these pores will diffuse through the membrane, down their concentration gradients, via the processes of passive diffusion or osmosis. Students tested glucose concentrations using glucose test strips, while the presence of starch was tested using iodine, which turns starch a dark blue/black colour upon contact.
The yellow iodine solution moves through the walls of the dialysis tube by osmosis, coming into contact with the white starch mixture inside. The two solutions react, turning a dark blue/black colour.
The yellow iodine solution moves through the walls of the dialysis tube by osmosis, coming into contact with the white starch mixture inside. The two solutions react, turning a dark blue/black colour.
Dr Phil Bergen
Secondary Science Teacher
Our Secondary Science Resident Pet: Baby Stick Insect
Spiny Leaf Insects are stick insects that look like dried up leaves and are very hard to spot in the wild as they hang motionless from foliage. They are leaf-eaters like other phasmids, and have a very interesting reproductive cycle, beginning with the eggs being tossed individually by females from the trees down to the forest floor. Once hatched, the juvenile climbs up in a tree and begins to feed on leaves. It grows by shedding its outer skeleton (exoskeleton). This process is called ecdysis or moulting. Males will do this five times, and females six times to reach maturity.
An amazing fact about Spiny Leaf Insects is that they are parthenogenetic. This means that females don’t need to be mated to reproduce. So if you only have a single female, she can still produce young - replicas of herself.
Spiny Leaf Insects only require fresh eucalyptus leaves each week, and a daily mist of water so they make a great low-maintenance pet.
