Science, Technology, and Engineering

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2023, and welcome your input:

Hayley Oliver (Science, Technology, and Engineering)  Hayley.Oliver@education.vic.gov.au

Wow!! How did we get to the end of the year already? It feels like it was only yesterday, I was nervously reintroducing myself to the school community and beginning our Science journey. It has been such a fun year, being able to delve deeper into the world of all things Science! I hope the students have enjoyed the year and learnt some new things along the way. Hopefully you can all enjoy some down time and some sun. Lastly, I’d like to wish our Grade 6 students all the best for their journey into high school. I know you can all achieve great things!!

Level 5/6 Learning

We have had a fun and gross finish to this term! Over the past few weeks, we became microbiologists and studied yeast, bacteria and mould. We learnt that yeast is living and when it is mixed with warm water and given sugar, it is given energy to become active, by using this knowledge we were able to blow up a balloon. We have also gone around the school taking swabs of different areas, like the toilets, the stage, windowsills, iPads, noses, the breezeway, etc. Then we put them in a gel and let the bacteria grow over week. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty disgusting! Lastly, as part of our microbiology unit, we learnt about different types of mould. We got three different types of bread, placed it somewhere around the Science room and then guessed which piece would be the mouldiest. To be honest they were all pretty gross. The students found it interesting to look at the mould through the microscope and see what it looks like up close. To finish our year off, we had some messy fun making bouncy balls. 

Level 3/4 Learning

The grade 3/4s continued to work hard on their matrix throughout the term. Some students had some success in looking at a seed begin to grow, lots of students made some wonderful posters showing the life cycle of plants and animals. I have enjoyed reading what they have found out and comparing animals to plants. We finished our Biology unit off by making individual terrariums. The students did a fabulous job of these and I have heard that some have gone crazy and are growing at a great rate.

To finish the year off, the Grade 3/4s had a go at combining Vinegar and Bi-Carb Soda, into a sealed bag with a picture they drew on it, and watched it grow bigger and bigger. Finally, the 3/4 students also got to join in on the making of bouncey balls as well!

CONGRATULATIONS!

The Science award for 2023, goes to Lola! 

It has been an absolute pleasure being able to introduce Science as a specialist subject this year. We've all learnt things along the way, like how to create a gas to explode rockets, to becoming microbiologists and studying mould and bacteria and everything else in-between. Lola has approached everything we did in Science with a "give it a go" type attitude and produced high quality work week after week. They encouraged group members to have a go at some of our more disgusting lessons and Lola was never afraid to get their hands dirty. A lot of Science is about collaboration and Lola always worked well in any group, whether it be sharing their ideas, researching or creating. This year Lola put their hand up to be part of many extra curricular activities. One of those was being part of one of our first ever Robocup teams, where Lola was instrumental in the creative process it took to build and design a robot to dance to music and once again demonstrated their collaborative learning skills and high standard of work. The Chicken Dance was an absolute crowd pleaser!! Lola was always willing to put in the extra work, time and effort to get everything ready before competitions and was always willing to give up a recess if needed. Lola, all year you have set a really high standard for yourself, in everything you have done in Science and you should be extremely proud of yourself. Congratulations!