Secondary
STEM
Last week the stage 5 STEM class jumped into the small bus on a foggy morning and headed to Bathurst for the first ever EngFest at Charles Sturt University. The day was to showcase the opportunities that exist in Engineering as a career and to also show off the multi million dollar new engineering facility at CSU. The facility is only four years old and offers a degree where students complete no exams over the entire course, purely project based and learning while working for engineering companies.
The day began with students watching a short film about some of the amazing engineering feats people are doing in third world countries. It was interesting to see some of the structures we take for granted like simple bridges be such a luxury for villages. These structures might be the difference in children attending school and receiving an education. We then observed the projects the university students are completing. Some of these included devices to help people in remote third world villages and a device that allowed water to filter using various layers of sand, cotton and charcoal, accessible materials in a village. This project
was also to purify water however used UV light from the sun to kill all bacteria in the water by sitting the water in these tubes for six hours. Villagers simply fill the plastic pipes up and let the sun do the rest.
This project aimed to build a viewing platform in the Blue Mountains that could be helicoptered into the site and assembled so that tourists would not be able to use any of the rock anchors that were holding the platform in place. The massive obstacle they had to overcome was to figure out how to distribute the weight of up to one hundred and fifty people leaning on the support rails at once. Remember the brief allowed no visible braces so they had to figure out a way to distribute the force under the platform.
Students observed some high school students pitch their project idea to a 'Shark Tank' style audience. Students tried to sell their idea of a tiny house that could fit a family of three. The house would fit onto a trailer and have all the basic things you would need to survive in a 6 x 4 metre space!
Stage 4 STEM
Stage 4 Science students have been studying cells and were given the task of making a three dimensional model of a cell. Some students went above and beyond creating some very impressive models. Several students made their's out of edible items which made the judging lesson even more enjoyable for all. Well done to the Stage 4 students who extended themselves and learnt a great deal about the structure and function of the cell on the journey.
Mr Corcoran/ Miss Moorby, Stage 4 Science Teachers
TAS Talk
Year 7/8 Mandatory Technology have been engaged in the new syllabus and began this year with fresh, new units of work.
‘Grow your food, fill your Belly’ has been our Unit this semester with a focus on Australian Agriculture. We have prepared, grown and nurtured ‘location’ and ‘seasonal’ specific plants to harvest and use.
As part of the unit, students were to design and create a ‘Grow your Own’ gift, which can been seen in the images below. This kit contains everything you need to grow your own fresh foods for a specifically chosen dish.
Ms Kelly Armour l Stage 4 TAS Teacher
Library Resources
Senior Study guides relating to the new syllabi have arrived and are available to our students.
Parenting Tips and Fun Friends Program Year 7-12
