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Science Week
Science Week was celebrated with lots of cool things to see and get involved with!
- Science Week at Kolbe kicked off with students exploring static electricity using a Van de Graaf generator at recess.
- At lunch time, they investigated their senses and perception in the Jelly Bean test.
- Students also had the opportunity to try and overcome the Physics of impulse by throwing eggs into a sheet with the 'egg break' challenge.
- On Tuesday, students made chemical reaction powered lava lamps.On
- Wednesday, students could experience the "Rubber Hand Illusion" demonstrating the Psychology of sight and perception. Students from the Kolbe Science and STEM Academy showcased their aeroplanes that launch using centripetal force.
- On Thursday, students were treated to a liquid nitrogen demonstration by Mr Scully, no bath toys or squash balls survived the encounter.
- On Friday, students could get involved in a series of experiments with dry ice, using the sublimation and resulting gas to blow up balloons or make vapour jets. There was also instant ice cream making, some even got their ice cream snap frozen with left over liquid nitrogen from the day before!
We would like to again thank all of the teachers that conducted these sessions and their Science and STEM Academy assistants. We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the lab technicians who worked tirelessly to prepare all of the experiments
Victorian Titration Competition
Recently, our Year 12 Chemistry students participated in the Victorian Titration Competition.
They used analytical techniques which they learn in their Year 12 Chemistry Course to accurately determine the concentration of ethanoic acid in vinegar. The students needed to use correct rinsing and proper titration technique to get a close to the true unknown concentration of the ethanoic acid as possible.
They will submit their findings and will compete against the rest of the state.
Science Mindz - After school program for children in Grades 4, 5 and 6
Our after school program this Term were themed around particular areas of Science. These workshops were not only educational, they were also loads of fun!
Children engaged in hands-on activities in our Science Laboratories which promoted curiosity, creativity and learning.
Week One was a lesson in Psychology where the children explored how sight can impact taste. In the first experiment, we took away the students sight with a blindfold to see if they could still guess the flavour of the skittle they were tasting. In the second experiment, they still had their sight, but what they were tasting had been altered in colour.
In Week Two the students were introduced to Physics through a fun activity which demonstrated the concept of frictionless motion by building hovercrafts! The hovercrafts were powered using air from a balloon to levitate craft made from a compact disk.
In Week Three the students made their own acid/base indicator with red cabbage! This Chemistry activity certainly had the kids saying, “Wow!” They learnt that red cabbage can be used as a pH indicator! They could tell if something was an acid or a base just by mixing it with red cabbage juice!
In Week Four the students leant about DNA. Through strawberry DNA extraction science experiment the children encouraged DNA strands to release from their cells and bind together so they could see them with their naked eye!
We hope our budding young scientists had as much fun as we did!
