Wattle Warriors and Data DeTECHtives

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’ program is a joint initiative between the Australian Space Agency, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and the One Giant Leap Australia Foundation.

Working in unison, the three organisations sent golden wattle seeds and Japanese herbs to the International Space Station (ISS), where the seeds spent seven months in space aboard the ISS. Upon their return to earth, PLC Sydney were one of 150 schools Australia wide to receive the seeds, to plant and cultivate in their schools.

“...they conducted data investigations comparing the growth of wattle and basil seeds sent to space and ones that remained on earth.”

Girls in Year 3 took responsibility for the seeds and have been growing these at school. Becoming data detectives, they conducted data investigations comparing the growth of wattle and basil seeds sent to space and ones that remained on earth. The girls designed, coded and used digital tools with the micro:bit to collect data on the seeds, including a micro:bit thermometer to measure the temperature of the seeds growth conditions, and a micro:bit soil moisture tester, to test the moisture of the soil the seeds were growing in. The project was a great way for the girls to

practice their burgeoning coding skills and apply these to help solve a real world problem, right here on campus. Students communicated their findings to their teachers and peers by building 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

Year 3 students cultivated seeds that had spent seven months aboard the International Space Station and then conducted data investigations.