TERM 1 Week 3 2022

Welcome to the Science Snapshot where we provide a taste of what the students have been working on during the last fortnight. This has been a BIG beginning to the year with many experiments for the students that demonstrated that learning objectives = FUN in the labs.

All students have also been shown the serious side of working in the labs with safety inductions before they could participate. They have had instructions on the safety rules and also been shown how to use safety equipment, such as the safety showers and eye baths.

Year 7

This cohort has been studying the effects of unbalanced forces, including Earth’s gravity, on motion. They are now working towards their assessment and planning experiments using force and understanding variables in experimentation.

Year 8

Biology is the strand of science students are studying in this term and they have started out small by looking at cells. Students had an opportunity to learn microscopy and study different cells using microscopes. There were a variety of cells they could look at including typical plant and animal cells, and these cells differences taught in theory became a reality through the microscopic lens. Many more cell slides such as blood, muscle and plant stem cells were available to students to study and to see how cells are differentiated depending upon the function of the cell.

Students moved on to bigger things and studied organs and body systems. Alongside the theory they gained hands-on experience through practicals demonstrating the digestive tract and the respiratory system.

Year 9

These students been studying Biology and building on their knowledge from Year 8 by studying the nervous system and understanding how the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system work together to respond to external change. This cohort got to study and visualise the internal parts of a brain through dissecting this organ and seeing where parts of the brain controlling speech, language, touch, sight and balance were located.

Students are now working on the immune system, pathogens and the germ theory. They have started an assessment where they have been analysing how pathogens affect the immune system and looking at the body’s natural or induced immune response. This is topical given our current Covid outbreak.