Science
Welcome back to Term 3 to all our RVSSC community members. I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing break and time was spent with loved ones. This term we welcome two new teachers to the Science team, Nathan Meredith, who will be taking Year 7 and 10 Science classes, and Kara Hansen, who will be taking a Year 7 Science class.
As we return to the classroom in Term 3, it is important for students to review the goals they set in Semester 1. It is important that as students review and set new goals that they look at the strategies they put in place to help them achieve these goals. As always, students will be supported by our amazing staff to reach their potential and encourage them with their goals throughout the term.
This term our students will continue to connect the learning that occurs within the science classroom to their lives outside of school and we encourage them to be critical and creative thinkers by utilising the inquiry skills they learn. In week 6 (15th-19th August), our school will be celebrating National Science Week with activities throughout the week. More details will be posted on our school social media as we get closer to the week.
Our Year 7 students delve into Physics, developing an understanding of balanced and unbalanced forces, and predicting conclusions about changes in motion. Students will construct, test, and modify a balloon-powered vehicle, and analyse the forces acting on the vehicle.
Year 8 classes build upon their pre-existing knowledge of Physics to understand how energy is either transferred or transformed, creating a Rube Goldberg machine for their assessment. The
Year 9 students investigate the structure of atoms, and how they change in chemical reactions by endothermic or exothermic reactions. Students will design and conduct an experiment to identify the suitable amount of salt to create the best cold pack.
The Year 10 students continue on their varied pathways with both the Biology/Psychology class and Physics/Chemistry classes beginning their semester units, while the core science classes finish off investigating how changing temperature, concentration, and surface area effects the rate of reaction. The foundation class has started their new unit this term to look at plant and animal cells at a molecular level, and how genetic material is transferred from parent to offspring during cell division.
We look forward to another exciting term and wish all our students the best as they get back in to the learning routines within all their classes.
Tim Barclay
Acting Head of Department - Science