STEM News

Prep students have been practising their food preparation skills by cutting first with playdough last week then with real fruit this week. Students were initially very worried about using a real knife, but with reassurance, guidance and practise of the correct skills, all students were successful with their knives with no accidents!

Grade 1 students have started their design project for this term – building a farm that produces either food products or fibre products. Students can choose to create a diorama of a cotton plantation, sheep farm, dairy farm, a farm that produces meat or an orchard. They will use a range of planned materials to collaboratively create their farm. 

Grade 2 students have continued their unit on Physical science by focussing on sound, sensing sound and sound production. Students went on a science walk around the school to identfy all the different sounds they could hear. Students also had a go at making as many different sounds as they could with minimal equipment. Students made loud noises and soft noises. All students now know that if something is making a sound, some part of that object is vibrating. 

Grade 3 students have continued to learn about how adding and removing heat can change the state of matter of different objects and materials. Last week they predicted what would happen to honey, plastic and chocolate when heat was added. They also witnessed solidification of chocolate when it melted and then solidified into a different shape when put into a mould. 

Grade 4 students have been learning about the different properties of materials. They investigated the buoyancy of 4 different materials by conducting a fair test using foil, wood, plastic and polystyrene. Students predicted which material would be most buoyant and tested to see if they were correct. Students will next investigate the absorbency of different fabrics, by designing their own experiment, measuring changes and recording data.

Grade 5 students have continued their unit on Earth and space by using their scientific inquiry skills to test different feet on a Mars Rover. Using playdough as the “Mars Surface”, students tested wheels, skis and pegs on the bottom of the rover to see which feet would leave the most shallow indent on the surface. This week students have started their design project, which is to code a game in Scratch Jnr, that demonstrates how food could be grown on Mars. 

Grade 6 students are focussing on healthy eating as part of food technology. They used the Australian healthy eating guide to choose a healthy recipe and explain why it satisfies the guide criteria. Students have also been showing what they know by completing an online assessment. 

STEM Team