Science

Sujata Symons

National Science Week

National Science Week this year is from August 10th – 18th. The school theme for 2019 National Science Week is ‘Destination Moon: more missions, more science’. The students in Year 3 to Year 6 will complete a unit of work related to Earth and Space Science during Term 3. This theme is a way for teachers and their students to discover past missions to the Moon and space programs that have solved some of the seemingly unsolvable problems—and current and future space programs, operations and missions.

To celebrate Science Week, all students in Year 3 to Year 6 will have the opportunity to attend a one hour in school workshop ‘Tick Tick BOOM! run by Fizzics Education.  This workshop will explore the science behind explosions and explain why chemical safety is so important. 

There is also a Science Week competition for each level with students completing the task at home. The details are as follows:

Foundation – Astronauts

Students are to make their own astronaut using materials they have at home.

Students are to include their name and grade on their astronaut.

Year 1/2 – Phases of the Moon

Students are to create a piece of artwork showing the phases of the moon. They can draw, paint or photograph what they see in the night sky.

Students are to include their name and grade on their artwork.

Year 3/4 – A Moon Model

Students are to create a 3D model terrain of the moon incorporating at least 5 main features. This can be made out of playdough, Paper Mache, etc.

Students are to include their name and grade on their model.

Year 5/6 – Design and build a Moon Rover

Students are to make a moon rover that moves.

Students are to include their design brief with their completed rover.

Students are to include their name and grade with their moon rover.

**All entries are due by 3:30pm on Friday 16th August and will be returned to students by the end of the term.

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Our Focus in Specialist Science for Semester 2 is Chemical Science

The Year 3/4 students have been working on natural and processed materials. They have identified and explored the differences between an object, material and physical properties. They are currently undertaking an engineering design brief to ask, imagine, plan, create, test and improve an egg bungy jump.

Students in 3DW and 4AK working on their Egg Bungy Jump

The Year 5/6 students are exploring the properties of solids, liquids and gases. They have learnt about matter and how particles are arranged in its 3 different states. The students have also investigated how adding or removing heat can change the way particles move as solids, liquids and gases. The 5/6 students completed an experiment on ‘bouncing bubbles’ and will undertake a design brief to build the best bubble wand. Later in the term, we will look at non-Newtonian substances such as Ooblek and jelly.

Ahmad and Sarah 6RR during the bouncing bubble experiment