Science News

Science and Technology – What We’ve Been Learning

It has been a busy and hands-on start to Science this term, with students across the school investigating movement, living things, habitats, food chains and adaptations through our Primary Connections units.

Foundation – Make It Move!

Our Preps have been busy exploring how people and objects move. They began by observing different types of movement around them and investigating the many ways we can move our bodies. They then explored movement through playground games and considered how changing an object can change the way a game works. 

More recently, our young scientists have begun conducting fair tests. They investigated how the shape of an object affects how far it can roll using marble runs, before exploring how different materials affect how far an object can slide. The Preps have done a wonderful job making predictions, observing what happens and discussing their results. 

Years 1 & 2 – Survive and Thrive

The Year 1 and 2 students have been investigating what plants need to survive and thrive. We began by exploring our schoolyard, observing the plants and animals that live there and developing questions about what living things need to survive. 

Students then planted seedlings and have been carefully monitoring their growth. Through experiments and observations, they have explored how plants absorb water and why water is essential for growth. We have also investigated the importance of sunlight, including the fascinating way plants can move and grow towards light. Students will continue observing their seedlings as we learn more about the needs of living things. 

Years 3 & 4 – Sustain the Chain

Our Year 3 and 4 students have been exploring the fascinating relationships between living things in our Sustain the Chain unit. We began by investigating habitats and considering the roles of producers, consumers and decomposers within an environment. Students explored how organisms depend on other living things and represented these relationships using labelled diagrams. 

One of our highlights was learning about myrmechocory where students learned about the beneficial relationship between ants and plants and displayed their knowledge in a series of images on See Saw. We have since explored producers and consumers and learned how arrows in a food chain show the movement of energy. Students have also modelled food chains and investigated how factors such as food, water, shelter and predators can affect the survival of a population while playing Roo Survival.

Years 5 & 6 – Adapt to Survive

The Year 5 and 6 students have begun exploring the incredible structural and behavioural adaptations that help plants and animals survive in different habitats. We started by looking at how scientists use models to investigate and communicate scientific ideas before heading outside to survey habitats within our school grounds. 

Students then investigated how plants are adapted to survive dry environments by watching Sir David Attenborough talk about dessert plants. We connected this to real life discussing why we hang out our towels at home to allow them to dry the fastest. Most recently, we turned our attention to some particularly fascinating Australian plants – carnivorous plants! Students investigated the specialised adaptations these plants use to capture insects and then put their understanding into practice by creating models that simulated different trapping mechanisms. This was a fantastic hands-on way to demonstrate how a plant's structures can help it survive in its habitat. 

It has been wonderful to see students across all year levels asking questions, making predictions, conducting investigations and using evidence to explain their scientific thinking. We are looking forward to continuing our investigations over the coming weeks!