Science
Our Year 12 students are in the process finalising their IA2 Student Experiment tasks. These tasks are challenging for students not only because of the academic writing and analysis required but also because of the creativity the need to make modifications to mandatory experiments. Our Year 12 Chemistry students have been exploring titration and galvanic cells with Mr Misihairabwi. They have shown great patience and problem solving as well as skill when titrating samples of lemon juice, soft drink or vinegar to be millilitre accurate with steady hands to calculate the concentration of acid.
Our Year 12 Physics students have been exploring gravity and magnetism. Students have shown resilience when adjusting their experiments with solenoids and magnets so that they have accurate and valid data to analyse. Mr Gibson has supported them to modify both equipment and methods over and over until they have succeeded in collecting high quality data.
In Year 11 Biology students have been exploring enzymes and the shopping list included all sorts of things including pineapple, cabbage, yeast and liver. Ms Hansen and Ms McKendry have been guiding students to design their experiment by redirecting the original independent variable to discover new information. This has required a lot of research to find methods that will work which will be an important skill as they move into their final year of schooling.
Our Year 11 Science in Practice students have been exploring consumer products and specifically food preservation techniques.
The senior teaching team is so proud of the progress our Senior Science students are making in their learning and we can't wait to see what comes next!
I'll finish with a photo from Ms Keating's Year 8 Science class having conducted the "Elephants Toothpaste" experiment. Year 8's are learning about physical and chemical changes.
Kevin Campbell
Head of Department - Science & Year 10 D,E,F