Middle School It has been a fun year in Middle School science as we created scientists who are both highly passionate and proficient in the skills of scientific investigation.
Year 7 05
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This year the Year 7s completed studies in the areas of biological classification, chemistry – separating mixtures, physics – forces and machines, and astronomy – the Earth and moon system. Our classification unit culminated in a trip to the zoo where the boys were able to observe many of the animals and concepts we had talked about in class. Separating mixtures was a highlight as the boys applied their separation techniques of filtration, evaporation and distillation to the global water crisis as they purified muddy water to a drinkable standard.
Year 8
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Year 8 boys made the most of having one extra class per week with more time to investigate in the laboratory. Term 1 saw the boys fascinated at the living microscopic zoo that is pond life, as they met some amazing creatures such as paramecium and amoeba. They were introduced to the structure of the atom and behavior of acids and bases in a chemistry focus in Term 2. A unit on electricity gave them the background for their STEM projects in Term 3 and a definite highlight of Term 3 was the burning of potato chips in the investigation of energy transfers.
STEM The extra period for Year 8 allowed them to take part in three twoweek blocks of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects. In Term 1, the boys researched and created television advertisements to raise awareness for the issue of antibiotic overuse and resistance. In Term 3 the boys learned to solder together their own circuit boards to create intruder alarms, voiceactivated crickets and more. Spaghetti machines/Rube Goldberg machines were the task in Term 4, where the boys investigated energy transformations through the lens of these multistep machines. The STEM projects were a clear highlight for the boys, as they put their science knowledge to practical use. They learned to project manage and integrate skills from other subjects in some fun, handson investigations.
Incursions and National Science Week
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Science has been buzzing in 2015 with a number of interesting extracurricular pursuits of science in the real world. The Year 8 boys had a forensic science incursion and used their science skills to piece together the clues of a homicide. The Year 7 boys saw how drama and science can interact in the extremely entertaining Science Week musical, What's the Matter?. A number of well-supported events took place during science week including the Science Photo Competition, The Great Rotocopter-Off and the Guess the Weight of the Sack of Footballs competition. Andrew Braddy, Head of Middle School Science GRAMMARIAN 2015
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