Science News
All final exams for the junior science classes have been completed and students are now studying the last unit for the year. There is still a lot of interesting science to learn so it is important that students stay focused on their learning and use the time and their resources wisely.
Our super science teachers are preparing and looking forward to welcoming students who will join our community at Marian Catholic College in 2022. Next Friday will be O Day when the students from the primary schools will experience the laboratory and some fun and important science activities. It always warms our hearts to hear the buzz in the playground as they share their science experiences with their friends.
Year 7 and Year 8 are studying chemistry as their last unit of work. There are a lot of ideas and new vocabulary for students as they engage in this chemistry and it is very difficult when we are discussing a world that is so small it is only our imagination that can build any images of atoms, molecules and compounds. We experience these every day, yet to understand them, we have to imagine a picometre world, which is very hard.
Year 9 has started their study of Global Systems. 9.1 was introduced to the Milankovitch Cycles this week and their impact on the Earth’s climate and climate change over geological time. It was also interesting to consider Snowball Earth and the role that volcanoes played in giving life back to the Earth. It is an amazing natural world with so much we still have to learn and understand.
Year 10 are finishing their unit on Motion and will finish their study in science this year with some literacy and numeracy activities. 10.4 science developed a comic on one of the science topics that they have explored and took the template off the CSIRO magazine, Double Helix. The science department will have a subscription for this wonderful packed filled magazine for next year which will help students recognise the main idea in the material when they are reading.
The year 12 Chemistry students were motivated with a little dabble in the laboratory prior to starting their HSC Exams. They really enjoyed making nylon and will certainly be armed with some great experience and knowledge if they have an extended response on polymers and polyamines. We pray that they are well prepared and do well when they communicate to the markers just how much they know and have learned.
Enjoy the weekend and the beautiful Griffith weather with hopefully a little rain to freshen the atmosphere and make the plants smile!
Best wishes
Esther Dumbleton
A word from Ms De Paoli
Year 10 Science is currently studying the topic of Motion and have analysed everyday situations involving motion in terms of Newton’s laws. Students were given the challenge to make a stop-go motion video to explain one of Newtons Laws. Stop motion animation is a filmmaking technique that makes inanimate objects appear to move on their own. To make it work, you place an object in front of a camera and snap a photo. You then move the object a tiny bit and snap another photo. Repeat this process twenty to ten thousand times, playback the sequence in rapid progression, and the object appears to move fluidly across the screen. Click the links below to watch the animated videos.
Ms De Paoli