STEM News 

Science Week

As part of Science week, six Year 10 students visited The Victorian Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC) on the 15 of August.

 

The focus of the day was for the students to decide the five most appropriate people and equipment to send to Mars in a bid to protect the human race. The need to successfully colonise Mars was due to a viral attack affecting Earth.

 

Each student had a specific role for the day.

Jade Huynh 10D – Astrobiologist

Richard Nguyen 10F – Space Software Developer

Jenny Nguyen-Duong 10F – Interplanetary Molecular Biologist

Nayana Premjit 10E – Energy Engineer

Darren Tang 10D – Space Physiologist

Charlie Vo 10D – Aerospace Engineer

 

The SASC team started the day by designing their desired colony. They each then attended two workshops ran by Victorian Science and Maths Specialist Centres to solve the problems facing the Marians pioneers. The two workshops focused on;

  • exploring fitness in space
  • considering energy provisions on Mars
  • how to effectively grow food on Mars
  • designing a vehicle to take off from Mars when returning to Earth
  • designing an accurate method to monitor atmospheric requirements
  • genetically testing colonists’ suitability to colonise Mars

After each student attended their workshops related to their role, the team were then able to redesign their colony based on what they had learnt. The day ended with the students presenting their findings and justifying their decisions about the five specialists and equipment they would send to Mars.

 

All the students engaged with their roles and showed critical thinking, teamwork, resilience and enthusiasm towards the day. We can now save the human race and colonise Mars!!

 

Emily Dickinson

Junior School Coordinator

Teacher of Science and Maths