SCIENCE 

ROCKET LAUNCHES

Year 10 Core Science students built and launched rockets as part of a Physics unit. This hands-on approach was popular with the students. On the day of the launch the quadrangle was cleared and students set up their rockets. Each took a turn to prepare their rockets and then launch them. Some fizzled and some flew far. Students calculated the average speed of their rockets and made predictions about the energy transformations during the flight of the rocket.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CHALLENGE 

The Science and Engineering Challenge is a day-long competition designed to provide year 9 and 10 high school students with a positive experience of Science and Engineering. 

25 students participated in this event on 30

May at La Trobe University. A maximum of eight schools per day compete against each other at one central venue. Each school team is divided into eight groups of two to four students. These groups work on either one full-day activity or two half-day activities. Students are awarded points for each activity and the school with the most cumulative points at the end of the day is declared the winner.

The schools that participated on the day with Kew High School were: Ivanhoe Grammar, Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar, Our Lady of Mercy College, Parade College, St. Bernard’s College, Whittlesea Secondary College and Eltham High School. Kew High School won the competition and was awarded a trophy. We now advance to the next round.

Congratulations to all the students who made this happen:

William Varney, Tenzin Pathy, Baden Coates, Thomas Rayner, Lewis Savva, Angelika Cafici, Jack Sullivan, Danny Loats, Anton Jensen, Ethan Nicholas, Meghan Clark, Monica Cafici, James Reardon, Dimitri Thomopoulos, Nadia Karava, Christianna Argyropoulos, Zachary Gray, Roland Weatherseed, Shanelee Crowe, Abby Niazi, Fabrice Wong Kwok, Calvin Wells, Max Vollebergh, Joshua Harmer-Ross and Laura Bath.

This competition aims to challenge year 9 and 10 students to consider a career in Science and Engineering, and to make the requisite subject selections in VCE. The program has been operating since the year 2000 and has proven very successful.

Deepa Jain

Science Teacher