Maths, Science and STEM

2019 Science Week

Killester joined in the celebration of the National Science Week last week.  2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. It also coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Periodic table created by Dimitri Mendeleev. The UN therefore declared 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. With the school theme for the National Science Week being ‘Destination Moon: more missions, more science’, various activities were organised for our students to inspire them about space science in particular, and how science influences the world around us in general.  

 

 

Below are reflections by some students:

I watched a documentary at the SCINEMA film festival in the library about a man named Maurice who had a very bad accident while hunting. It was fascinating to see how Maurice was getting ready for the surgeons to perform a face transplant on him. He had waited 3 years to get a donor for a face, the skin, nose, teeth and gum and finally all these will be transferred over to Maurice's face!

by Coco Huynh, Yr 7 St Rafka

 

For Science Week, one of the activities that were held was the periodic table jigsaw puzzle. The activity was very enjoyable as it used both sides of the brain. I liked the visual aspect of putting the periodic table together while still challenging myself to try and remember where the elements are placed. I also liked the feeling of accomplishment of placing the last piece, knowing that I have completed the puzzle.

by Missy Yalung, Yr 10 St Michael

 

Every morning a space-themed Quiz was sent out for all students to answer, and two winners with the correct answer were then picked and received prizes. I was one of the lucky one! Years 7, 8 and 9 also got to watch an interesting Science Show by ‘Professor Bunsen’. The show included many things about space, how much power it takes to get to orbit, how gravity works, and what the air is like in space. This science week was very informative and interesting, but also engaging and entertaining.

by Vivien Owens, Yr 8 St Patrick

 

‘Prof Bunsen’ started his show with intriguing acts which blew all of us off this world: the ‘speedy beads’ showing the effect of inertia and gravity; a girl hovering on a mat with just a vacuum pump; turning plastic bottles to heat-powered rocket that sped off and hit the wall etc. All his demonstrations were so exciting that made every student's hearts pounding so fast!  Some of us were rewarded with cool little gifts for answering his questions correctly. It was a super science show that every student enjoyed!

by Harleen Kaur, Yr 9 St Emily 

 

The VCE students of Psychology and Biology attended a talk by two research scientists from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience during Science Week. They talked about the methods of treating a stroke, the consequences that follow, as well as the way to determine whether someone was at risk of or was in the process of suffering a stroke. We learnt that a person our age should have 10-13 hours of sleep a night. We all laughed upon hearing this as the majority of us are usually running on less than seven hours of sleep! The visitation was insightful and inspiring.  Many of us were asking for further elaboration on the topics, wanting to gain further understanding of the intriguing information that was new to many of us. 

by Ageliki Arkoudis, Yr 12 St Gerald

 

The Science Week talks were an insightful, inspiring opportunity to catch a glimpse of the lives of researchers driving modern medicine. In our growing population, it's important for research to be done into life-threatening diagnoses such as the instance of a stroke, in which mere minutes are critical for the recovery of the patient. Two scientists from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Professor MacKay from the School of Biomedical Science, University of Melbourne talking to students were not only interesting, but it hints at the magnitude of careers available in the advancing health research field. This made the experience overall worthwhile and extremely engaging!

by Isabelle Gemmell, Yr 12 St Joseph