Science and Design Technology News
End of Term 3:
Science Department Update – Term 3
The Science Department has wrapped up a busy and rewarding Term 3, with students across all year levels engaging in a wide variety of lessons and practical investigations. From building electrical circuits to designing ecosystems in a bottle, to exploring the human brain and its different regions and how they work together to drive human behaviours, our students have had many opportunities to apply their learning in creative and authentic contexts.
As we approach the end of the year, VCE exams are just around the corner, with practice exams scheduled during the upcoming holidays. We encourage all of our Unit 3 and 4 Science students to continue working hard and begin putting in the extra effort needed to consolidate their understanding. By maintaining focus and commitment, they will place themselves in the best position to achieve their desired results.
One of the most effective ways to prepare is to complete as many past VCE exams as possible, as this builds confidence and helps identify areas that need improvement. We also encourage students to reach out to their teachers for extra guidance and support, whether that be going over difficult concepts, reviewing practice responses, or developing strategies to manage time effectively during the exam.
For our middle and junior school students, the holidays are an important time to take a well earned break and recharge. Resting now will allow them to return in Term 4 with fresh energy and focus, ready to give their best effort in the final weeks of the year as they prepare for end-of-year assessments.
Most of our courses are now moving into their final topics for the year. Our Year 7 students will be exploring balanced and unbalanced forces acting on objects. They will investigate gravitational force, represent forces using diagrams, and relate changes in an object’s motion to its mass and the magnitude and direction of the forces applied.
Our Year 8 students will finish the year by studying energy in its different forms, including thermal, chemical, gravitational, and elastic. They will classify energy as either kinetic or potential, analyse energy transformations in simple systems in terms of efficiency, and further develop their skills in carrying out scientific investigations.
Our Year 9 students will be examining the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, with a focus on how these systems work together to enable the human body to function effectively.
Year 9 Advanced Science - Brain Dissection
Last week our Year 9 Advanced Science class had the opportunity to dissect a lamb's brain. The students have been learning about the brain and the functions of its different regions. This dissection allowed them to see first-hand how the brain is organised and gave them a deeper appreciation of how structure relates to function, reinforcing their understanding of how the regions of the brain work together to control human behaviours and processes.
Rowan Presland
Learning Specialist STEM | Science