Science

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2026, and welcome your input:

Hayley Oliver (Science)  Hayley.Oliver@education.vic.gov.au

Wow!! I can’t believe we are already at the end of term. It feels like just yesterday, I was welcoming students into the Science room, for a new year of Science. 

I would like to start off by saying a huge congratulations to Seth and Finn on their STEM Captain role for the year! 

We started the year off, with some fun magic writing. All year levels had a go at this activity. They had to ensure they were listening to and following instructions really carefully, for this to work properly. Most students were really excited to see their invisible ink change colour in front of their eyes. 

If this is an activity you would like to do at home here is how we did it (you can increase the quantities if need be).

Firstly, mix ½ tbs of Baking Soda with a ¼ cup of water. 

Use a cotton bud to dip into the mixture and begin writing your secret message. 

TIP: Dip frequently for the best effect (we freshly dipped for each letter). 

Leave to dry. 

Then, Mix ¼ cup of Hand Sanitiser with 1/2tsp of turmeric. 

Once the invisible ink is completely dry, get a paint brush and dip into the turmeric mixture and paint over the writing to see your invisible ink come alive! 

Year One and Year Two learning

This term we have been learning about the physical changes we can make to different types of materials. The students started by investigating a range of items, they discovered what materials the items were made from and all the different things they could do to physically change an item. 

Over the next few weeks, they then used some of these same materials to create an amazing sculpture. 

They have also investigated the different types of changes we can make to paper. We read an amazing book about a young person practising and practising to become an Origami master and then we had a go at physically changing paper by folding it and becoming Origami masters ourselves.  

Finally, we looked at how else we can physically change paper by ripping and cutting to create some beautiful Easter mosaics.

Year Three/Four learning

This term we have been learning about the states of matter and what we do when we apply or take away heat. Firstly, the students needed to understand what we mean by matter and then learn about the different states matter can be in (solids, liquids and gas). They started to get an understanding of how particles behave inside particular states (ie squished together in solids). 

The students were able to classify different items into categories of solids, liquids and gases. We discovered that some items can’t be classified into one particular category and made Oobleck as a fun example of this. Which is a non-Newtonian fluid – ie, it acts as both a solid and a liquid. The students had fun letting it drip over their hands and then punching it so it felt like it was a solid. 

We then looked at how some states can change from one to another, specifically taking away heat, we predicted which type of liquids would melt the quickest out of milk, dish soap, water and honey. Then we made snow!

Year Five/Six learning

The grade 5 and 6 students started the year looking at condensation and evaporation. We investigated what condensation actually is, by making a glass jar really cold and seeing if we could get it wet on the outside. We put some blue food dye inside the jar and discovered that when the jar got really cold and wet on the outside, it wasn’t wet from the water inside the jar, as the water on the outside was clear.

The students then decorated some snap lock bags, with a beach scene and put the blue water inside. Over the term we have seen some condensation appear on the bags and can tell there has been some evaporation occurring as well. 

We then investigated mixing solids and liquids, and liquids and liquids to find out when something is a solution and when something is a suspension. 

The students also had fun learning about reversible and irreversible changes, by combining a solid and a liquid to create a gas to make a balloon blow up.