Celebrating Science Week
Jenny Selinger – Head of Science | STEAM Coordinator | Timetable Coordinator
Excitement was in the air. People were bustling about. Microphones, chemicals, odd materials were travelling back and forth. Was there a celebrity visiting Emanuel? Would the red carpet be required? NO! It was the annual week of amazement – National Science Week.
Students scurried around the school collecting such oddities as an example of Cynodon dactylon or Ms Selinger’s middle name (this required three correct answers to random science questions) in the Scavenger Hunt. Remarkable lateral thinking was demonstrated as well as an admirable ability to argue a case with logic and passion when justifying some of the entries.
Things bubbled, changed colour and disappeared during the Science show, with excellent sportsmanship being shown by Mr Majsay. He was roped in when walking by to have a balloon full of water held to a candle over his head and seemed very relieved to discover that we were not about to give him a cold shower. As usual, the liquid nitrogen section was most popular, particularly the ice cream that emerged from the clouds of vapour at the end of the show.
Groups of students from diverse years took up the challenge of Ms Selinger’s Super-Secret STEM Challenge, which this year took the form of a device to get a toy car over a gap – the larger the gap, the more points. Well done to all the participants – your creativity and resilience were a delight to behold!
Things went round and round on Thursday, when Science met Craft and the area outside K20 filled with the smell of hot-glue guns and the sounds of groans as spinners and pinwheels fell apart. Some successful spinners are displayed in the photos. Well done for the great designs and excellent construction skills.
The week ended, as it always does, with the Annual Inter-House Science Trivia Quiz. K20 was filled to capacity and incredibly noisy as two teams from each House vied to be the champions of this prestigious event. It was closely contested, but Rabin emerged as the victors, holding on to the title by the skin of their teeth with Meir coming along close behind. The energy in the room was amazing and the activity enjoyed greatly by teachers and students alike.
An extravaganza like this is not possible without the hard work of a lot of people. Particular thanks go to Cara Norman, who organised the week, Rochelle Hunter, the Science Tech, who put all the equipment together and all the Science teachers who ran the events, giving up their lunchtimes all week.
Now we are mopping up the messes, putting the equipment away, breathing a sigh of relief while also looking forward to what may occur next year at National Science Week.
