Mathematics

16 Blueprint I St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

In 2021, students and staff have continued to embrace the new Queensland senior syllabus and everything it offers. While the introduction of external exams was intimidating to begin with, a department-wide focus on spaced practice and interleaving has ensured that students beat the “curve of forgetting” and completed Year 12 fully prepared to meet the challenge that the external exam brings. The proof was in the pudding, with our girls achieving fantastic results.

The new syllabus has also introduced problem-solving and modelling tasks and this year our students’ tasks focused on creation and prediction.

Creation When it comes to creativity in school, mathematics is often overlooked. However, true mathematics is an act of creation itself, and our students through the problem-solving and modelling tasks had many chances to flex their creative muscles. Year 10 Mathematical Methods students used their knowledge of quadratic functions to design and model a cable car system connecting St Aidan’s to Ambiwerra. The focus was on fun for our 11 Mathematical Methods students, as they designed a go-kart racetrack, using calculus techniques and technology to ensure the track flowed smoothly from start to finish. Year 7 and 9 students both got busy in the kitchen, using their mathematical knowledge to determine the best ways to feed the hungry hordes.

Prediction It was Mark Twain who said, “Prediction is difficult - particularly when it involves the future”, and while it’s true that prediction is difficult, it is certainly made easier when you have mathematics and statistics to guide you. It was all fun and games in Year 8, as our students used statistics to try to predict the outcomes of future sports competitions based on a team’s past performance. Year 11 Specialist Mathematics students were also in the prediction game, using United Nations data to predict the future population distributions of countries and propose solutions to the economic problems an aging population poses.

Mr Joel Speranza Head of Faculty

BEd (Business and Mathematics)

17

Creative Arts and Design

18 Blueprint I St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

Creative Arts and Design Studies continue to promote developmental pathways though specially determined sequential curriculum and extracurricular opportunities. As our subjects are both content and process-based, students constantly engage with the notion that problems and tasks have more than a singular solution or answer. It is important that we allow our students to celebrate the multiple ways of seeing, interpreting and responding to their world. Our three-semester units across Years 9 and 10 in Technologies, Visual Art, Drama and Music have been highly valued and impactful in allowing us to see the significance in planning around successive stages of adolescent girls; this in turn fosters greater development of skills that are invaluable across all disciplines. In Visual Art this year a notable range of research themes and inquiry approaches across all levels have enriched the traditional scope of study and experience. We employed Dr Donna Marcus, a special-effects artist as well as apiarists to add to our programme. They provided rich stimulus to our students allowing them to see others’ artmaking practices and the way ideas can be interrogated and represented. The introduction of textiles units this year allowed students to see its place in mass culture as well as the way it is reinventing itself as a legitimate artform. It also provides a platform for students to look at 21st century issues of sustainability, landfill and our throw-away culture. An exploration of E-Textiles in Year 8 Technologies has also broadened student exposure to this art form.

Due to Covid restrictions Glow went online this year in a new format showcasing work from Kindy to Year 12. Once again visual art students enjoyed success in the QIEU art and design competition and Year 12 in the Creative Generation Awards. Year 9 Technologies students were involved in a crosscurricular project designing and prototyping puppets for the Year 9 Drama production. They also participated in a workshop on puppet prototyping with Dead Puppets’ Society.

Our Australian Space Design Team were crowned as world champions at the International Space Settlement Design Competition.

We had six teams of students between years 5 and 10 enter the 2021 Techgirls Competition. This is an Australia-wide tech entrepreneurship competition in which teams work with mentors to develop apps that address real-world problems aligned with UN sustainable development goals. Our Year 5/7 team received a highly commended awarded while our Year 10 team were announced Queensland Winners.

In Drama this year, several new units of work were developed to challenge the skills and talents of our students. Year eight students worked with new scripts from Brisbane playwright Maxine Mellor and experimented with cinematic techniques to enhance their performances. Year nine students undertaking the Children’s Theatre unit engaged in a cross-curricular project with the Design and Physical Sciences classes to create laser-cut puppets as part of their performance to engage young audiences. They also participated in workshops with Dead Puppet Society to learn how to manipulate and bring puppets to life. Our year eleven and twelve classes continued working through the senior syllabus to produce outstanding work which reflected their creativity and insight

Mrs Gaye Brown Head of Faculty

DipArtT, BArtEd

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