STEM

In recent weeks, over 55 students and 15 teachers have been involved in planning activities for STEM Week which will be held in week 3 of Term 2. Students selected to participate in the STEM groups; Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Digitech, Environmental Science, Food Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology and Technology. Saaniya, Amy and Devyan (Year 7) are in Physics and are designing bottle rockets for the Science and Mathematics STEM Fair. As they all love Science and Physics, they have relished the opportunity to trial their different rocket designs to find out which is best. Sahana and Simona (Year 11) are Physics STEM ambassadors and have designed an electrical circuit board for students to use. Simona says Physics is one of her favourite subjects, so she has loved being able to brainstorm and create something for other students to enjoy.

Reese, Aliana, Abigail, Sabrina and Sienna (Year 8) are Biology STEM ambassadors and have designed optical illusions for the STEM Fair, along with an activity where students will see whether colour lenses affect the colours we see. They said that they have found it fun to work together with their friends and are looking forward to running their activities at the STEM Fair. Sebastian is also in the Biology group and is organising a museum of animals at the STEM Fair which he says will combine his love of animals and biology.

Students from the Food Science STEM group, Maia, Jacinta, Caprice, Celeste will be running a Kombucha stall at the STEM Fair where students can try samples of the drink and learn how it is made. They all agreed that working with their friends at lunchtime on something productive was something they enjoyed. As they are all in Year 7 they also said being part of STEM ambassadors has given them confidence to try new things and the opportunity to make new friends. 

Lisa, Chrissa, and Adhya (Year 7) designed Food Science experiments for the fair, where in one of the experiments they will be using reduced air pressure to suck an egg into a bottle and in another experiment, they will use red cabbage to find out if different foods are acids or bases. Lisa, Year 9, said she has always enjoyed Food Science, so she really wanted to experiment in this area. DonaMaree and Amber (Year 7) will be running a stall about eggs at the Fair. They will compare free range eggs with cage laid eggs and will run a competition where students can win a prize for guessing the number of eggs used in Food Studies in three weeks. It's been a busy time for both students and the STEM teachers and it is looking like it is going to be another exciting and full STEM Week this year.

Dr Adele Hudson

Head of Faculty – Science