This week, two under graduate students from the Curtin Science Outreach program visited our Year 6B students. This program is committed to providing opportunities for future scientists and engineers, as well as their educators - encouraging them to learn new skills, meet like-minded people and spark excitement for science and engineering. Jessica and Brad presented an activity that incorporated simple circuits using electric snap on kits.
The children were required to meet a challenge by imagining they were stranded in the outback: How would they alert rescuers? How would they keep cool in the heat? And what would they use for light in the pitch black of night? Using the snap on kits, the students were able to successfully create all three devices and complete the challenge. Here are a few photos of the experience. Friday, 2nd March, was Clean up Australia Day for schools. After registering on the Clean Up Australia website, Mrs Cogger received a kit including bags, gloves, information and promotional materials. The Schools Clean Up Day is a fun and engaging way to teach young Australians about the responsible disposal of rubbish, resource recovery and the repercussions of rubbish dumped irresponsibly in the local environment. Students from Kindy to Year 6 were allocated an area, on the school grounds, to clean up. Everyone put on their gloves, or used the special robot arms, to pick up all the litter in their area. To make the Clean Up Australia a relevant learning experience for our students, Mrs Cogger also offered learning experiences about waste management and recycling to the students in Years 1-6. Here is snapshot of our learning this week. The Year One students learned about the different bins and what can be placed in them. We did a card sorting activity and discussed which waste goes into the yellow lid bin, green bin, a compost bin and a worm farm. The Year Two students brought their lunch boxes into Science and we made our own graph of the waste we found. We concluded that the students at St Emilie's are very careful at packing 'waste free' lunches. The Year Three students examined the findings from the Year Two lunches and then discussed the best place to dispose of the waste - recycling, worm farm, compost or general waste. The Year Four and Fives students participated in a Science for Human Endeavour role play activity. We learned what the term 'marine debris' means. The students were placed into teams and each team had to imagine how they could manage the marine debris issue depending on their role in the community. The roles were - boatowners, homeowners, beachgoers, the manager of a factory and the manager of a waste facility. The Year Six students investigated primary and secondary batteries. Mrs Cogger set up several 'battery stations' around the room. The students had to investigate the different batteries, draw a detailed diagram of the battery and then discuss the pros and cons of that particular battery. Don't forget that here at St Emilie's we have a battery recycling bin in the admin/reception.at At the conclusion of our Clean Up Australia Day the MacKillop house group gathered together for a photo. As you can see we are very effective at St Emilie's at using minimal waste. This can be attributed to the powerful message being taught in our Mappen Sustainability topic and through Science lessons that allow student participation and discussion about waste management. Also, Mr Cogger likes to keep on top of waste management and is quick to remove any unsightly messes he sees.
Mrs Cogger is thinking ahead to Clean Up Australia Day 2019 and her ideas are that it may be a great idea to go 'offsite' in 2019 and clean up a local park like Cromarty Gardens. |
AuthorKerrie is a primary science specialist teacher in Perth Australia. She has a passion for providing experiences to open up young students inquiring minds to the world in which they live. Archives
March 2018
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