Science/STEM News
Last Friday saw my Year 11 Psychology class dig into some brains!!!
The students loved putting their theoretical knowledge of the structure and function of the human brain into practice (even though we used sheep brains!). Over the coming weeks, look out for more Science and STEM student work in action!
International Women’s Day
Week 7 was a busy week for STEM. On Tuesday 9th March, we celebrated International Women’s Day by hosting a Girls in STEM lunchtime event. Select female students from the Year 7 and 8 Academic Excellence Program, along with Year 9 and 10 STEM classes, gathered in W4 to enjoy some food and drink. They listened to our special guest speaker, Dr Amany Abdelkader, a lecturer and researcher in Anatomy and Physiology from Federation University, give a very moving and inspirational speech about her passion for STEM and her journey towards a highly successful career. When students asked Dr Amany for her advice on girls studying at school, Dr Amany told the girls to ‘never let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve something, but you do need to work hard!’
A very big thanks to those who were involved in helping with the organising of the event and making sure it ran smoothly – Carren Brennan, Shannon Pook and Jen Rice. Thank you also to our wonderful and inspiring STEM teachers Rika Amvrosiadis and Mrudula Menon, who were there to show their support.
Casey Technical School
In a separate event on Wednesday 10th March, Year 9 and 10 STEM students had the privilege of attending Casey Technical School in Berwick to participate in a ‘Discovery Program’. Students worked in groups and rotated through four different activities using the design thinking process, each one challenging their critical and creative thinking skills! Students were able to participate in activities using Hummingbird engineering and robotics technology, forming objects to float through a wind tunnel, coding a set of instructions to successfully operate drones, and creating all sorts of imagery in 3D space using Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and hand controllers.
Aliza Kumari of 10G had this to say: “I had a great experience. We did very interesting activities and I’ve learned new things from them. My favourite was the VR class.”
And Sanjana Garaga of 9A said this: “First of all, thank you so much for giving us this wonderful opportunity, we love the experience and would love to visit it again.
My friends and I mostly enjoyed the drones session because we learnt that controlling a drone with a tab is cool, and the Visual gamer session because it felt like a whole other world. We had so much fun, the staff were really nice, respectable and patient. I think it is a wonderful place with so many fun activities that keep students engaged and entertained.”
A massive thank you to Rika Amvrosiadis, STEM Learning Area Coordinator, for organising and overseeing this excursion, along with Mrudula Menon and Jen Rice who helped support the students. A very successful day indeed!
Greta Burns
Professional Learning