STEM @ Koonung
Koonung Students Excel in Big Science Competition
In May, 32 Koonung students from Years 7 to 10 participated in the annual Big Science Competition, joining over 36,000 students from across Australia and around the world.
Congratulations to all students who took part in this challenging competition. Koonung’s overall performance was outstanding, with results averaging 10% higher than both state and national benchmarks.
Award categories were as follows:
High Distinction – top 5% of students in each year level
Distinction – next 10%
Credit – next 25%
Participation – remaining 60%
Congratulations to all students who received an award. These achievements reflect their curiosity, dedication, and strong scientific ability.
High Distinction
- Matthew Nguyen (Year 7)
- Agostino Frascoli (Year 7)
Distinction
- Yi Hao Chua (Year 7)
- Dhyan Ramadasan (Year 7)
- Oliver Lau (Year 8)
- Eric Baskarada (Year 9)
Credit
- Charlotte Chou (Year 7)
- Adelaide Johnston (Year 7)
- Paul Li (Year 7)
- Terrence Mai (Year 7)
- Alayna Johnstone (Year 8)
- Taneen Mazloomian (Year 8)
- Joshua Pratley (Year 8)
- Kaitlyn Ong (Year 9)
- Mehrbod Pousti (Year 9)
- Sienna Pugliese (Year 9)
- Dion Des Anges (Year 10)
Congratulations and thank you to the students who participated!
Ms Chung
Science Domain PLC Leader
Engineering Tomorrow - Electric Vehicles Lab Challenge
On Thursday the 21 May, select students from Year 8-10 participated in an exciting STEM opportunity run by Engineering Tomorrow. Delivered in collaboration with NASA, Vena Energy, and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), this well-established U.S. program has been an exciting addition to the event calendar for 2026. In this lab, students were introduced to the history, development, and design features of electric vehicles. Students were then encouraged to build their own electric vehicle and gain an understanding of this burgeoning technology.
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition
On Thursday 21 May, students opted to take part in the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition run by the Australian Maths Trust. The competition gave students the opportunity to develop their problem-solving skills through algorithmic thinking. The competition incorporated unique ‘three-stage tasks’ that encourage students to develop informal algorithms and apply them to test data of increasing size or complexity.
Congratulations to all students who took part.
CHES English Language Activity Day
On Friday 22 May, a group of students attending the English Language – Language Under the Microscope Activity Day at the Centre for Higher Education Studies in South Yarra. This ‘CHES Activity Day’ was designed specifically for high-ability Year 9 and 10 students to attend a subject-based workshop to engage in challenging, extension-level learning alongside high-ability peers from across Victoria.
The activity was centred around how we use language every day but we rarely step back and think about what’s actually going on when we speak and write. It encouraged students to break things down and get to the core of what it is to communicate with others. Throughout the day they explored the following key questions:
- what makes human language distinct from animal communication?
- are the grammar rules of language meaningful or even real?
- what are the creative limits of language?
Thankyou to Tom Watts and Karen Rowe for accompanying these students for this valuable learning experience.
QUANTUM PHYSICS DAY
On Thursday 7 May students attended the Physics Fun Day, an interactive event where students explored the surprising and exciting side of physics through three engaging sessions. They discovered the "magic" behind physics phenomena, investigate Newton’s laws by simulating car crashes with collision trolleys, and experiment with different types of electricity, from static to electromagnets.
Engineering Tomorrow - Renewable Energy
On Wednesday 10 June, 8D participated in an exciting STEM opportunity run by Engineering Tomorrow. In this lab, students were introduced to renewable energy, where they learnt about the benefits of renewable energy sources in contrast to the dangers of non-renewable energy sources. Students learnt how to build their own solar-powered and wind-powered turbine prototype, while trying to keep their costs as low as possible. This reflects how today’s engineers work to lower the cost of renewable energy sources in order to make them more appealing to the public.
VHAP MASTERCLASS
The Department of Education and the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) value the connectedness of high ability students who have completed the VHAP program virtually and as such we are holding a Masterclass day in conjunction with East Doncaster Secondary College (EDSC).Students from the Math and English VHAP program across Koonung Secondary College attended East Doncaster Secondary College on June 15th to join together for a day of challenging games and extension activities.
Thankyou to Sonia Abdallah for joining me on the day to run the masterclasses.
Lauren Hughes
(Acting) Learning Specialist: Excellence and High Ability Practice Leader