The Science Faculty have commenced Term 2 with a busy and noisy environment. We have however, enjoyed the outcome of this chaos with students now utilising three new laboratories and staff slowly moving into the new office space. Students have also experienced a variety of activities within School and the wider community, where they have acquired new skills or applied their learning to a variety of real world applications.

Luna Park Physics Day

On Tuesday 7 March, the Years 11 and 12 Physics classes attended the Luna Park Physics Day, which is organised each year by the Australian Institute of Physics. This event is run for the week, enabling 700 VCE Physics students from schools across Victoria to attend this function each day. There are ten rides for the students, involving collisions, high-speed forces and circular motion, which help students with their understanding of the forces involved with their study of Motion.  The AIP also organised a stunning aerobatic display by one of the Australian Air Force Roulettes.  Students investigated the forces involved in different types of collisions in the Dodgem cars as well as free fall on the Shock Drop and the effect of centripetal force during the Enterprise and G-Force rides.

Sustainable Gardening Workshop at the Royal Botanical Gardens

Phoebe Hogan, Beatrice Froomes-Houseman, Milla Naylor and Charlotte Rodgers making tea with the garden produce.

Year 7 students have commenced the St Catherine’s Science and Sustainability through Plants Program (SSSP). Integral to the program is the Sustainable Gardening workshop at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Students investigated the basic skills of sustainable gardening practice through this hands-on program. They explored water conservation, organic gardening methods, composting and worm farming.  Students also considered ideas for designing and developing their own gardens by exploring the landscapes of Melbourne Gardens.

Holloway Diamonds

Garry Holloway, Geologist and Gemologist, presented a forty-minute lecture to Year 9 Science classes. Garry discussed the physics of reflection, refraction, dispersion and scintillation in relation to diamonds. After spending more than decade working with scientists from Moscow University and India, Garry is active in the field of diamond cut research and diamond gemmology.

CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program

Year 10 students recently completed an Astronomy unit with their Science teachers to extend and ignite their curiosity about the cosmos. The students enjoyed a presentation from Dr Loren Bruns, Astrophysicist, at the University of Melbourne, who shared the findings of his eight-year PhD research project involving computer modelling of the galaxies.