Science News

Family Science Night, Wednesday 25th October 2017

The year’s Family Science Night was based on the theme of ‘Future Earth’ with a focus on how we can reduce energy, water and waste for a more sustainable planet. The night was an action packed affair with students trying their hand at making worm farms and terrariums,  guiding robots through city mazes and obstacle courses and finding out just how much water they use. Students also attempted to break the recycling record, planted wallaby grass to help regenerate Aitken College and made triorama’s about what they wanted Future Earth to look like. In the ‘Saving Nemo’ room they learnt about why oil spills are dangerous for birds, where rubbish goes when it gets into our waterways, made coral craft in the Great barrier reef and learnt about how water treatment plants make clean water. With Family Science Night now into its 16th year, it is fantastic to see that for many families it is a highlight in their yearly calendar.

EngGirls Ambassadors

The EngGirls Ambassadors ran their first public event at Family Science Night. With a focus on promoting the importance of being ready for the 21st Century, the EngGirls designed a number of robot challenge tasks for student to practice their coding skills. Connecting to the overall theme of ‘Future Earth’, students needed to program the small robot toy ‘Ozobot’ to rescue people in several megacities from around the world. They also had to control the Cleverbot robot ‘Dash’ to breakdown large obstacles in a cleanup zone. The EngGirls ambassadors program is open to Year 9 and 10 girls and aims to strengthen their creativity and ability to lead teams, manage projects and communicate their ideas. The EngGirl’s stall at Family Science Night was really popular - a pretty good sign that the EngGirls were able to create a fun and challenging way for children to learn 21st century skills.

Dr Adele Hudson

Head of Faculty - Science