Middle School  

7ACE ESCAPE ROOM EXTRAVAGANZA 

The 7ACE Project class recently hosted the annual “Escape Room Extravaganza”. For their semester one ACE Project, students experimented with the Design Thinking Process to collaboratively design and create their very own escape rooms. 

Despite a myriad of challenges posed by a very disrupted semester, students showed resilience and resourcefulness to construct uniquely themed and extremely fun bamboozlements! They designed every single puzzle using only the materials they had at hand, and considered the challenge level and ambiguity of each of them. They experimented with the layout and flow of the room, and trialled distractions and decoys to add depth and deviousness! 

They were very excited to share this with their families, who attended the event and were lucky enough to escape with their lives! If you are keen to try your luck, students will be presenting their rooms at the Monash Maker Faire at Monash University on Sunday 4th December. 

Abbey Novak 

STEM Learning Specialist 

 YEAR 7 SUPERSPACE PROGRAM 

Recently this term, the Year 7 cohort participated in a two-day “Superspace Program” as part of our partnership with Monash Tech School at Monash University. 

Students had an incredible time as they worked in small teams to design and create a space suit that would meet the needs of a specific space-related scenario unique to their group. They explored a variety of STEM-related concepts and honed some necessary skills required to journey across our galaxy. 

They used their new-found knowledge in conjunction with design thinking to develop their spacesuits and create a miniature prototype. Here’s what our students had to say about their experiences: 

Super Space was a really fun experience. I learned so many new things while doing those incursions! The best part was finally assembling our space suits! That was really fun because we got involved with everything, and every student had something to take part in. If I could, I would definitely do it again, and I am sure other students would as well!  

Skye, 7C 

Superspace was a fun STEM couple of days out, filled with exciting activities. All the activities, from the VR puzzle box to trying out exoskeletons, gave our small groups a part for the spaceman we would make on day two. Each group had 50 coins to build their own space suit and all parts were purchased after each activity with the coins. One of my favourite bits about this excursion was how the teams worked together to make their own unique astronaut suit. 

Bailey, 7C 

I really enjoyed going to the SuperSpace program. It was a fun experience to go into Monash Tech School see what it’s like to test out materials and investigate planets. I liked seeing all the different kinds of technology they used to analize things. It was really fun to design our spacesuits suited to our mission on our planets. It was a really awesome experience, I would definitely go back to Monash Tech School again. 

Taylor, 7B 

Super Space was an incredibly experience that the Year 7 got to experience. In this program, we got to design and create a prototype of a new astronaut suit. We went through several stations, learning about what is needed to keep astronaut healthy and safe. On the first day, we went through 3 stations which were, stabiliser, communications and exoskeleton. On the second day, we went through another 3 stations, oxygen, materials and scanning, and then we used the materials we gathered to make a small prototype version of our designed space suit. This was an incredible experience and we all had a good time. On behalf of 7D, thank you! 

Sophie, 7D 

The Super Space program was really fun! We got to do cool activities with holo-lenses, where we got to call another partner on a laptop and they helped us open up a puzzle box. We also got to see how much gold was in certain rocks. Each activity that we completed we got to buy special pieces that went towards a space suit that we got to make. There were different fabrics and pieces that would make you more stabalized and keep you warm while you are in space. My favourite activity was the holo-lens because it was fun trying to figure out the clues to the box and getting to be in Augmented Reality! 

Jovi, 7G 

What I loved most about the Super Space program was designing our own spacesuits for a different design brief. The design brief that my group had to make was ‘Lovers of Autumn.’ Lovers of Autumn’ was on a different planet and we had to make a suitable spacesuit for everyone who wants to go there. Throughout the two days, we went to 6 different stations and learnt about different products from each station. These products helped us to make our spacesuit and what will be good for the conditions of our planet. My favourite station was the Holo-lens. You had to put on a holo-lens and you will have to try and unlock an escape box with help from your partner who you communicated to through the holo-lens. Your partner was in a separate room on a Teams meeting and they had to try and help you unlock the escape box. Overall, Superspace was a great experience that I really enjoyed. 

Layla, 7B 

In my opinion, the SuperSpace Program was such a success! Everyone enjoyed it and I think we all learnt lots of new and interesting things. The activities and tech that the staff at Monash Tech School planned for us were so much fun, my personal favourite was probably the Holo-lens. Overall, I think that the excursion was amazing and every year level should go so they don’t miss out on such a cool experience, I can’t wait to go back to Monash Tech School next year! Thank you! 

Khadija, 7G 

The Year 7’s attended the Superspace program at Monash University. There, we did many fun and interesting activities, such as the gyroscopes and the bio lab activities. But on the behalf of years 7E and 7G the augmented reality (AR) was defiantly the highlight. The augmented reality was run in pairs of 2, one person being the director. The directors are stationed in a different room with a laptop on a Microsoft teams call. While on the call the other person puts there head set on being able to control and move the information projected on the screen. Their task was to open a box with many different challenging puzzles on it to win. Seeing all the high tech and fancy equipment, such as key cards for evert single door, was really outstanding, and on the behalf of years 7E and 7G we would love to say a huge thank you to Monash University and to the staff that attended the day! 

Tom and Darcy, 7E

The Super Space program was an incredible experience. It was so cool to experience all the technology. I really enjoyed the video calling system with the puzzle boxes but my favourite activity was definitely the building of our space suit. If I could, I would definitely do that again. I would love to do it all again and I am sure other students would as well! 

Kelly, 7A  

Abbey Novak 

STEM Learning Specialist

Year 7 Science Egg Drop

Our Year 7 classes have been set a challenge to design a parachute to protect an egg as its passenger. Five groups in 7A succeeded (but lots of tape used) and 2 groups did not have a safe landing of the egg. Ouch!

YEAR 9 MEDIA STUDIES INCURSION 

Our Year 9 Media Studies class were recently treated to a free virtual workshop with ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image). Students joined schools from around Victoria on Webex to complete a masterclass in writing for the screen.  

With the goal of using the workshop to develop ideas for their 1-minute film project for class, students developed ideation skills and learnt about -what makes a good film-story. They investigated characterisation, theme, characters arcs, and how to incorporate them into a story structure.  

Since the workshop, students have evolved their ideas through the storyboarding phase, and are currently shooting their short films. They are very excited to share them at the end of this term! Students will be heading to ACMI in real life after Term 4, to code and create video games as they investigate ‘gaming’ as a media form. 

Abbey Novak

STEM Learning Specialist

  YEAR 9 MUSIC ELECTIVE - SONGWRITING 

Year 9 Music Elective students have been writing and recording their own songs! We have spent time listening to a variety of songs and how they are structured and written, and considered ideas from various songwriters with different approaches. 

We then workshopped our own ideas to create original lyrics, melodies and raps. Students spent time rehearsing and recording their songs using the software program Bandlab. They have been developing and demonstrating collaborative skills, ICT skills, and have been able to provide each other with feedback along the way. 

We have been fortunate to have Pre-Service teacher Sam Bailey working with us in the Music Dept, who has been able to offer additional advice and assistance.  

 Kirsty Mechielsen 

Classroom and Instrumental Music Teacher