STEM WORKSHOPS

Our Year 9 students this week have been given parent notifications for a valuable opportunity to immerse themselves in all things STEM for a day on Thursday 21 November, taking on challenges designed to develop a range of useful science, technology, engineering and mathematics, thinking skills.

Organised by the school, the day engages students in four different STEM activities - each testing and exposing students to different STEM competencies. In the changing landscape of today’s - and tomorrow’s - workforce, such skills may enhance employability when looking to apply for jobs and extend careers.

Students will have to think on their feet with each activity and master collaborative teamwork, problem-solving and creativity to overcome challenges and achieve the goals set out in the following four areas:

Bionics - students design bionic hands out of straws and other materials, in order to give independence back to hypothetical patients who have lost a hand through injury or illness. The task requires students to focus on developing the digits (fingers and thumb) for their artificial hand.
Coding - students develop codes for the alphabet using only coloured lights. Applying this code, students are then required to transmit messages effectively to their team.
Skylap - students build simple aircrafts using wooden materials, hot glue, electricity and a propeller. The task requires students to modify their design to meet specific criteria regarding speed, weight and lift.
Catapult - students cooperatively design and construct a catapult to launch a tennis ball in accuracy and distance trials.

ICAS SCIENCE

Last term twelve students again participated in the ICAS Science Competition run by the University of New South Wales ICAS Competition. ICAS science assesses student’s skills in the key scientific areas of:

• Observing and measuring- Noting and measuring features of items and phenomena
• Interpreting data- Interpreting diagrams, tables and graphs
• Applying data- Including inferring, predicting and concluding
• Investigating- Experimental design, use of controls and notion of ‘fair test’
• Higher-order skills- Including reasoning and problem solving

Students achieved some great results with the following achieving Distinctions;

EXPERIENCE IT!

On the final day of Term 3, twenty of our young girls opted to forego the chance of an early holiday by taking up a great opportunity for girls in the ‘Experience it!’ Engineering Workshops, allowing girls from Years 7-10 to challenge themselves and see just what they can achieve, and to learn about the key role of female engineers in the future of the engineering industry in Australia.

Year 8 students Caitlyn Fairs and Cindy Nguyen have provided the following report on the event.

SCIENCE @ ST JOHN'S

Students across all science groups have been busy in their regular lessons working scientifically, challenging many STEM related investigations eg. Measuring speed, designing seatbelts to keep Egbert safe, using mathematical models to calculate missing data so that they can discuss patterns and trends. There are too many activities to mention them all, we encourage you to ask your child about their experiments in science classes.