Science
Teacher:
Amy Cray
Lab Assistant:
Aby John
Amy teaches science from Year 7 to Year 10. All six strands of Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Ecology) are covered within stage 4 and 5.
Our Science Lab
In our science lab we study all the main areas of science as well as developing our skills to become effective self-directed learners. Our theoretical and practical tasks are designed to cater for different learning styles (kinaesthetic, visual and auditory) with an emphasis on activities that develop our interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. We are reminded when learning new skills to think about ‘what this looks like in the real world’ and how we would apply this new scientific knowledge in a real life situation.
The teacher’s board
What we are getting up to
This semester students will continue to develop their inquiry and ‘Being a scientist; skills through a variety of topics derived from the six strands of science.
We are enthused about using our range of existing and new science equipment and enjoy conducting experiments in our purpose built science lab. As well as the enriched learning opportunities that our new COW (Computers on wheels) provides.
A brief overview of what is in store for each year level this semester:
Year 7 students will begin the semester by focussing on energy during our ‘Heat, Light and Sound’ module. Energy conversions, a fire lighting challenge (without matches) and exploring with light boxes will be a highlight. Students will then take their developing inquiry skills and apply it to our ‘Forces’ module. Designing inquiries to investigate surface tension and opposing forces (tug of war) will provide kinaesthetic learning opportunities to ensure success in our end of term test.
Term 4 will see students launch into their first Astronomy and Geology units. ‘Earth in Space’ will see students learn about what causes day and night, tides and seasons, Earth’s companions in the solar system and why the moon looks different at different times during the month. Moving onto our Geology unit ‘Our Planet Earth’ students will learn about the Earth’s crust, biomes and how scientists gather and use information about our Earth.
Year 8 students begin the semester focussing on the different types of Microorganisms under our ‘Microbes’ topic. ‘Are all microbes good or bad?’ will provide an interesting point for students to use their debating, persuasive writing and research skills to argue their informed point of view. A trip to Hideaway Island Marine Sanctuary will provide an interesting hook into our learning about Ecosystems for our ‘Ecology’ unit. We will use the coral reef as a case study and observe; species interactions, types of behaviour as well as abiotic and biotic factors.
Term 4 will see our year 8’s further develop their inquiry skills during our ‘Electricity and Machines’ modules. Designing and creating circuits using our electrical circuit kit and creating multi-modal presentations to demonstrate the effectiveness of levers, pulleys and axels will allow students to work in groups and develop their leadership and ICT skills.
Year 9 students begin the semester with learning about how we interact with the world around us during our ‘Sense and Control’ unit. Understanding how a reduction to one of our senses would impact how we experience the world as well as trying to prove there aren’t separate ‘taste’ regions on our tongue during a student led inquiry will provide students with kinaesthetic and memorable learning opportunities. Students will then move onto studying ‘Reproduction’ from a scientific point of view. Asexual and sexual reproduction, cloning and stages of human reproduction are key learning points and an assessment that requires them to creatively and accurately explain ‘How babies are made’ to a year six audience will allow them to develop an awareness of audience and writing for purpose.
Term 4 will see our year 9’s learning about ‘Ecosystems’. Due to our outstanding natural resource of coral reefs we will explore all aspects of this ecosystem and the flow on effect to other ecosystems (mangroves and open ocean). Students will visit Hideaway Island, Marine Sanctuary to complete their own student led inquiries. We will then consolidate our knowledge before the end of year exams leaving enough time post exams to explore ‘Light’ before we wrap up for the end of the year.
Year 10 students begin the semester by learning about inheritance with a specific focus on human inheritance and our visible features for our ‘Genetics’ module. Students will choose superheroes with different super powers and use these to create the ultimate superhero offspring. This requires students to learn about ratios, genotype, phenotype, punnet squares and mutations. We will then move onto ‘Evolution’ Studying Darwin’s theory of natural selection, evidence for evolution and the timeline for human evolution from a Scientific perspective, before exploring alternative theories of evolution.
Term 4 will see students learn about ‘Health and Disease’. Understanding key vocabulary relating to disease (epidemics, pandemics and endemic), exploration into the four components that make up our Health (Physical, Spiritual, Mental and Social) before fusing our new knowledge and ICT skills to create posters to encourage healthy PVIS students. We will then consolidate our new knowledge from the semester in preparation for our end of year exams before choosing a science based ‘Global Issue’ of interest to inquiry into for the remainder of the school year.
