Science ___________________________________Page

I remember in the late nineties watching a film about a group of teenage boys who took up the challenge of rocketry. The film was October Sky, a true story set in the late 1950’s and inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. I vividly recalled watching the film wondering how powerful that significant event must have been for the boys pursuing a challenge of sending a rocket into the upper atmosphere, a time when rocket technology was in such infancy. I won’t go on about the journey the boys had and how the movie ended but I do wholeheartedly recommend it. What I do want to extract from the movie are the endeavours of thousands of people who through trial and error, sleepless nights, accidental discoveries and budget cuts have contributed so much to the scientific community and in turn made a difference to every single, individual species on this planet. The human spirit endures a lot of knock backs and knock downs but through this all it helps us build resilience and offers us the capacity to persevere. Our students similarly work hard in striving to realise their full potential by building on the skills needed in achieving success in all areas of science. Every class and practical is centred on skill acquisition and inquiry with each year building on the last and all manifested through action. For example in Year 7, students utilised acquired skills in Scientific method to design an experiment to separate different components in a mixture. Our Year 8’s expanded on their instructional and ICT skills by creating a slowmation of a geological phenomenon. Slowmation is a stop motion animation using multiple digital still images played continuously at an increased frame rate and the boys relished this. The Year 9’s continued the questioning, analysing and reporting skills with ‘Bust-A-Myth’, a unit where students worked collaboratively to debunk myths like the infamous ‘3 second rule’. By Year 10 the students who were confident in having acquired the necessary skills were given the option to undertake Psychology, Biology or Psychology or continue to hone their skills by specialising in Year 10 subjects like ‘Darwin, Freud and Flannery’ a Biology, Psychology and Environmental stream or Curie and Tesla a Chemistry and Physics stream. Needless to say these activities are just a snapshot of our diverse Science curriculum, where the intention is to encourage students to change from being receptacles of knowledge, to more meaningful learning by considering different viewpoints, develop hypotheses, test solutions, and become truly engaged in the learning process. Students in all year levels were involved in in-school activities facilitated by external organisations with the aim of showcasing Science as an endeavour. Adam Morrissey led a group which included the Year 7 leaders to plant over a thousand trees as part of national tree planting day. Professor Bunsen presented some real world Science to the Year 8s. CERES conducted workshops for the Year 9s in environmental science respectively. Year 10s in the Darwin, Freud and Flannery subject were also involved in a hands-on workshop focusing on genetics. This is the last year our Year 9 Science curriculum will run at the St Joseph’s main campus with the year level moving over to Westcourt on Minerva Road. With this transition this marks also the last year The Patch will run as is. The Patch has grown from humble beginnings with 4 beds, a tiny shed, and water tank and catering to only 12 students. Over the last five years the class sizes have tripled, 8 more beds added and the word spreading about the importance of sustainable practices. Continuing with the Westcourt theme, a major boon for next year’s Year 9s will be the abundance of space and increased flexibility timetable which will allow units like ‘Forensics’ to evolve to include a purpose built crime scene, introduce cross-curricular units like ‘Gastronomy Science’ and also the creation of a new elective ‘Biology on the Move’ which will utilise the Barwon river as its teaching space. I would like to also take this opportunity to thank all of our dedicated team members and students for their continued enthusiasm and diligent approach to participating in building our Science curriculum. I look forward to Samantha Eggleton who will be heading the Science department and wish her and the team an exciting 2014.

Ashwin Pillai - Science Domain Leader

“The Patch has grown from humble beginnings with 4 beds, a tiny shed, and water tank and catering to only 12 students. Over the last fi ve years the class sizes have tripled, 8 more beds added and the word spreading about the importance of sustainable practices.” – Ashwin Pillai

Constructing foil boats to carry a set amount of weight Constructing foil boats to carry a set amount of weight St Robert’s Students get a tour of “The Patch” St Robert’s Students get a tour of “The Patch”