Celebrating National Science Week!

In Term 3 we celebrated National Science Week! The theme for this year was “Deep Blue: Innovations for the future of our oceans”. The week consisted of a Deep Blue Escape Room that was completed in class. Students participated in a number of challenges including identifying terrifying sea creatures to reveal codes to turn the lights back on in a submerged research vessel. Miss Tonks organised a Sea Creature Hunt during lunchtime - which had the students actively seek out all 20 sea creatures to win a prize! We also ran a Sea Creature Design Competition where students combined the features of two or more ocean organisms and delivered a message about the dangers of plastics in our waters. Congratulations to Jess Taylor from Year 7 who was the winner of the Sea Creature design competition.

Year 7 have recently completed their first practical assessment task, which tested their scientific skills and understanding. They have spent the term learning about forces and are enjoying all the physics practical activities that come with this topic. They learnt about tension forces in everyday life by blowing bubbles on benches. While 7A didn’t let gravity get them down as they shot bottle rockets into the sky! They were keen to see what they could change to make the bottle rocket go the highest and concluded that more water does not equal more height. Next term Year 7 will delve deeper into the field of chemistry and begin learning about the different separation techniques used by chemists. We would make a chemistry joke, but all the good ones argon!

Year 8 have been very busy working on their Searching for Skills unit. Do you have a plastic bag, string and something small and light to tie it to at home? Some of our students have been challenging each other to construct a parachute with the slowest rate of fall using these simple household materials. Some students chose to increase the size of their canopy whilst others changed the material from plastic to chux or silk and others lengthened or shortened the strings. What would you do to make your parachute fall the slowest? Test it out at home using these simple household materials!!

We would also like to welcome our Western Sydney University Practical Students, Mr Whitby and Miss Singh, to the Science faculty. They will be joining us in Term 4 for five weeks whilst they learn the ropes of becoming a Science Teacher. So say hello and give them a warm KHS welcome.