WATTLE WARRIORS AND DATA DETECHTIVES
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This year the girls at PLC Sydney have been fortunate enough to participate in an out of this world program ‘What’ll Happen to the Wattle’, a first program of its kind in Australia. The ‘What’ll Happen to the Wattle’ basil seeds sent to space and ones that program is a joint initiative remained on earth. The girls designed, between the Australian Space coded and used digital tools with the Agency, JAXA (Japan Aerospace micro:bit to collect data on the seeds, Exploration Agency) and the One including a micro:bit thermometer to Giant Leap Australia Foundation. measure the temperature of the seeds Working in unison, the three growth conditions, and a micro:bit soil organisations sent golden wattle seeds moisture tester, to test the moisture of and Japanese herbs to the International the soil the seeds were growing in. The Space Station (ISS), where the seeds project was a great way for the girls to spent seven months in space aboard “...they conducted data the ISS. Upon their investigations comparing the return to earth, PLC Sydney were growth of wattle and basil seeds one of 150 schools Australia wide to sent to space and ones that receive the seeds, remained on earth.” to plant and cultivate in their schools. practice their burgeoning coding skills Girls in Year 3 took responsibility for and apply these to help solve a real the seeds and have been growing these world problem, right here on campus. at school. Becoming data detectives, they conducted data investigations Students communicated their findings comparing the growth of wattle and to their teachers and peers by building
Year 3 students cultivated seeds that had spent seven months aboard the International Space Station and then conducted data investigations.
a website in Google Sites and a vlog of process. They also shared this data with the Australian Space Agency, JAXA, and One Giant Leap Australia using a specially designed app, collating all the data sent in from schools Australiawide. The Year 3 girls are pleased to report the seeds are growing nicely and will remain on campus, when they are fully germinated. It’s exciting to know that our school will always have seeds from space as part of our beautiful grounds. Mrs Helen Kardiasmenos Technology, eLearning and Innovation Leader, Junior School
