Year 8 Science is rockin' it 

8H get a Geologist with their geology

In the first week of term 4, 8H were lucky to have a guest presenter talk to the class to help support understanding of our current topic, 'Geology'.

Shawn Panton is the Chief Geologist and Geology Manager of Centennial Mining and Maldon Resources which includes the A1 Mine and Union Hill mining assets. Shawn Panton has worked for 25 years as a geologist and mineral industry executive, and has been involved in whole range of activities from exploration, project generation, or mining for commodities such gold, copper, nickel, and rare earth minerals.

This was an exciting opportunity for the students to learn how the curriculum we are learning in class applies to real-life careers in the fields of geology, engineering seismology, and vulcanology. 

A big thank you for Siaan Callaghan of 8H for helping to organise this. 

Mel Erwin

Year 8 Science teacher 

8B rock out

Hailey shares how her class have been rocking it

In Science, the year 8s are learning about rocks, minerals and crystals. I mean, who would ever have thought that a rock could be interesting! Well, the more we learned, the more interesting boring old rocks became. 

We have learnt how to identify rocks and the properties that make up rocks. We discovered the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, as well as learning about how the weight, colour and layers in a rock can change.

We watched a video on minerals and learnt all about how minerals form crystals and how most rocks are made up of minerals. Did you know Diamond is the hardest mineral and will scratch all other minerals, without getting scratched itself, however Talc is the opposite and is the weakest mineral!

We learnt about the difference between intrusive and extrusive rocks. Also how when rocks are exposed to different temperatures and surroundings how they can change, for example when sandstone is exposed to magma it metamorphs into a rock known as quartzite. 

Now for another fun fact, did you know that in 2001, geologists found the oldest known rock on Earth called the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt. They found it on the coast of the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec. Geologists dated the oldest parts of the rockbed to about 4.28 billion years old! 

Learning about rocks has been really enjoyable and we can’t wait to learn more.

Hailey Crebbin (Year 8)