View from the Kleinlehrer Family Science Building

Jennifer Sellinger – Head of Science

Welcome to the start of a scintillating and stimulating new year in Science. Already things are heating up in the K-block, with Year 7 learning the skills they will need for High School Science, including the ever-exciting lighting of the Bunsen Burner – always a highlight of the school year. The search for the ferret-rustling culprit has begun and Who Stole Annika? is the Science question in every Year 7s mind as they make their important observations and inferences in their quest for justice.

Year 8 have been expending energy as well – bounding around the Waxman Drive as foxes and rabbits. It was most amusing to watch them desperately competing for food and trying to survive the rigours of life in the wild! They have started with ecology and are pursuing understanding of the topic in a variety of ways, including food webs made of string and various other similar activities. This week they are also heading out to Homebush to investigate what it would be like to make a Home Among the Mangroves – particularly if you are a bacteria or a plant.

Year 8 students making food webs

The seniors are well on their way in their new courses and it is very interesting and encouraging to see them tackling the distinctly harder version of Science in Years 11 and 12. They are now expected to be very precise in their terminology, to understand and use Science terms fluently and to develop a deeper and more rigorous understanding of the particular Science disciplines that they have chosen. Whilst some of the content should be familiar, particularly in Year 11, the stakes are now higher and the level of knowledge expected is both broader and deeper, making senior Science a challenge for all – hopefully one they are eager and ready to accept.

It is important not to forget the playful and creative side of Science and we are tapping into the students’ immense enthusiasm for STEM with our 2017 entry into the annual Technion Rube Goldberg Machine competition. This international extravaganza sees Jewish schools across the Globe designing, constructing and filming wacky and creative machines to ultimately do a particular task – in this case to reveal a message about Earth Week. We reached the finals last year and have set ourselves a goal to make an even bigger, longer and more stable machine this year. We have a wonderful team consisting of both veteran machine-makers and enthusiastic newcomers and the ideas are flying!  The ideas are all on paper as yet, but construction starts today and I will bring you illustrated updates as they come to hand. There is always room for more enthusiasts so if anyone is interested in joining our team please feel free to come and see us in X03 any lunchtime between now and 15 March – bring your lunch!

As always at the start of the year our brains are buzzing with new ideas, excellent activities to try and conversations to have with our students. We are enjoying the fresh beginning and the bright enthusiasm of our students and are looking forward to a vibrant, interesting and informative year in the Science building!