STEM Update

Water Rockets Ready for Launch!

This Friday, our Foundation students and their Year 5/6 buddies will be heading to Shore Reserve for an exciting STEM excursion. Foundation students will have the opportunity to watch the Year 5/6 students launch their very own designed water rockets and hopefully see them soar towards the stars!

The excursion is a wonderful opportunity for students to explore science in action while building connections across year levels through our buddy program.

At this stage, the weather forecast is predicting a 75% chance of rain, so we will continue to monitor conditions closely and keep families updated. Fingers crossed for clear skies and perfect launching weather!

We are looking forward to what promises to be a fantastic learning experience for students, staff, and families alike.

Hologram Magic in Year 1!

A couple of weeks ago, the Year 1 students were very excited to welcome special guest Hugh Fraser, Lachlan’s dad from Year 1AM, who worked alongside the students to explore the fascinating world of light, reflection, and holograms.

Students were amazed as they discovered how light and reflection can be used to create a hologram effect. Working collaboratively in groups, students designed, built, and decorated their very own hologram devices using a variety of materials. They explored how reflected light can make images appear to “float” in the air, creating incredible visual effects that sparked curiosity and wonder throughout the learning experience.

A hologram is a special picture that can look like it is floating in the air! It is created when light reflects off clear surfaces, such as plastic, and tricks our eyes into seeing a 3D image. Even though we cannot touch the hologram, it can appear real and even seem to move when viewed from different angles.

As part of the project, students collaborated to research an animal of their choice using the internet and recorded two interesting facts about it. They then explored how reflected light could make their chosen animal appear as a floating hologram before drawing and recreating what their hologram animal looked like.

Our learning goals included:

• I can work with my group to build a hologram device that successfully creates a hologram effect using light and reflection.
• I can decorate my hologram device creatively using a theme of my choice and explain how light helps the hologram work.

It was wonderful to see the students so engaged, creative, and eager to learn through hands-on STEM experiences.

A very big thank you to Hugh and Lachlan for sharing their expertise, enthusiasm, and knowledge with our Year 1 students.

Year 2 Ready for Launch! Water Bottle Rockets in STEM

Our Year 2 students have been busy working collaboratively as engineers and scientists while designing, building, and launching their very own water bottle rockets!

Throughout this exciting STEM unit, students have been learning how to work together as a team while following the design process to plan, construct, test, and improve their rockets. They also explored how to measure and record how high and how far their rockets travelled after launch.

Our learning goals included:

• I can work cooperatively with my team to plan and build a water bottle rocket.
• I can measure and record how high and how far our rocket travels after launch.

Students followed the engineering design process throughout the project:

1. Ask & Imagine Students discussed the problem, explored what makes a rocket fly, and shared creative ideas while investigating different rocket designs.

2. Plan Teams carefully drew and labelled their rocket designs, selected materials, and planned how they would build their rockets.

3. Build Working collaboratively, students constructed their water bottle rockets using their designs as a guide.

4. Test (Launch) Students safely launched their rockets and observed the results, measuring distance and height while reflecting on what worked well and what they could improve.

It was fantastic to see the Year 2 students demonstrating teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and resilience throughout the project. The excitement during launch day was unforgettable as rockets blasted into the sky and students celebrated their designs in action!

Specialist Teacher | Joe Frazzetto