Science

Science update

Term 3 is always eventful in the Science department as we have a huge range of events occurring.

On Friday 29 July, four of our Year 11 students travelled to VU for the day accompanied by one of our science staff members Jessica Wu. The students were involved in a range of STEM based activities and each student was asked to write about their experiences.

I had the privilege of participating in Victoria University's STEM discovery day. We were able to complete two mini courses of our chosen field. I chose humanoids and sustainable packaging. In humanoids we were paired up and had to follow instructions given to make a small functioning printer out of Lego. After we had built the printer we had the challenge of running diagnostics and deciding how we could fix its faults. In sustainable packaging we worked in small groups to try and design a minimalist protective packaging inside of a box using packing peanuts. The challenge was to create something using very few peanuts and being able to drop the package from a substantial height without subjecting the accelerometer inside to too much stress. I had a great time today and made some friends as well. It was awesome to be able to talk to some of the professors there and get a better understanding of what to expect from university as a whole.

Grace J.
In a world where everything is evolving and there’s a lot of advancement, STEM is significant as it helps people in their everyday life in this contemporary society. Victoria University has created an event where they show students the importance and contributions of STEM in life. I was one of the lucky students to join this event. There were heaps of activities to do in connection with STEM. The workshops that I participate in were chemical analysis and sustainable packaging workshops. In chemical analysis, we did chromatography and spectrophotometry. In this activity, we learned that there are still things yet to be discovered in every aspect of life. Some things look simple, but we don’t know that within those things there are complex compounds that are found. While, sustainable packaging, from the name itself, has to create packaging that is sustainable and efficient. Since pollution is one of the timely issues that the world is facing, even the small things matter to help the environment survive. The goal of sustainability is to eradicate environmental degradation and promote a clean environment. Victoria University did a great job to promote the STEM strand to students.

Caryl S.
I took part in the two activities called chemical analysis and humanoids. In chemical analysis, we determined the sugars in honey by high performance liquid chromatography using Shimadzu Analytical Instruments. I got to inject the compound of honey and water into the machine and watch it create a graph of the data, showing the amounts of glucose and fructose present in the sample. We also determined Aspirin by UV/Visible Spectrophotometry, this analysis used the deep colour produced when Salicylate anion reacts with Iron III cation. Both experiments were very fun and engaging, we were also given safety goggles as a gift!

As for humanoids, I paired up with a girl from another school and made a functional printer out of Lego, but the printer had issues that we were required to fix for the printer to function. After fixing the printer, we used the special app provided to code an image and the printer drew it for us! This activity used problem solving skills and teamwork, as well as following instructions to be able to produce a successful printer.

The teachers at Victoria University mentioned the small number of females in STEM, especially in engineering. Women make up about 13% of engineers and they were more than excited to see the large amount of girls that joined in on the day. We were all provided with a goodies bag by Engineers Australia, that included pens, notebooks, hand sanitizer and a handbook. We were also supplied with a yummy lunch of wraps, sandwiches, fruit and drinks and given the chance to talk to the staff and ask questions.

Sarah S.
We would like to thank these students for their willingness to share what they had learnt on the day and congratulate them as they were highly enthusiastic and were excellent representatives of Penola Catholic College.

Science week begins on 13 August and promises to include lots of activities for our students at both Glenroy and Broadmeadows campuses. This year’s theme is Glass: more than meets the eye.

Activities include:

  • Year 7 students will visit the Melbourne Zoo
  • Year 8 students will visit La Trobe university and participate in a range of activities
  • Year 12 Biology students will be attending Ecolinc in Bacchus Marsh
  • Daily quizzes
  • Lunch time activities (jelly lenses, stained glass, mosaic coasters, drones and glass bead bracelet making)

All of these activities could not run without the ongoing enthusiasm of the Science team, and I would like to publicly thank them for the work that they do to give our students opportunities to explore the wonderful world of Science.

Leanne Attard
Head of Science (Broadmeadows)

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