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Science Day: A feast for curious minds

Junior School Science Day last Thursday was a riot of stimulating scientific experiments as students explored gases, force, gravity and air pressure. There were exploding balloons, whizzing rockets and flaming fireballs… even Barbie got a top-knot in the name of scientific inquiry!

A mobile planetarium, rather like a giant blue igloo, popped up in the Big Gym. Students had to take off their shoes to crawl through a tunnel where they were treated to an engaging visual workshop on the wonders of our solar system and learnt about gravity, forces and space.

In the Hall, the Jolly Bops, ably assisted by Rusty the Robotic Clown, brought scientific inquiry alive for our students, with their highly interactive and entertaining shows, including Balloon Science, and Science with an Aboriginal Perspective.

Students gasped with excitement as materials burnt, items froze, and liquids changed colour or evaporated. They were fascinated to discover the complex science behind the first man-made flying machine, the Boomerang, and learn how the Indigenous Peoples of the Northern Territory are helping to cut Greenhouse Gases through their Caring for Country Fire Management Practices. It was an awe-inspiring way to deepen student understanding of different scientific concepts.

Over at Hooke House, there were experiments to test chemical changes, water science, messing with light and electric magic. Mr Pomfrett grouped students into atoms, with students labelled as protons, neutrons and electrons moving around the room to demonstrate positive and negative charges. It was a clever way to help the girls understand how these tiny particles work together to create an electrical charge.

Students had great fun rubbing balloons on each other’s heads to transfer negative electrons from their hair to the balloon, then pulling the balloon away to make their hair move. It was hair-raising stuff!

The Senior School Science Department then lead a number of ‘electrically charged’ scientific demonstrations to make lightning and cause cups to fly.

Poor Barbie had a bad hair day when the static electricity gave her a frizzy top-knot!

At Woodstock, students from Kindergarten to Year Two divided up into groups and worked in separate rooms and in the Piazza to conduct different scientific experiments.

Miss Richardson and Ms Bollard got to grips with optical illusions, which Miss Richardson described as “what happens when our eyes play tricks on us.” Evie described an optical illusion as, “Something you see when it’s not really there.” Saffron said, “It’s like magic.” And Georgie explained it as, “Things that are the same, but look different.”

Miss Richardson illustrated an optical illusion by drawing different lines and explaining that although one of the lines looked longer, they were in fact the same size. Why is this? Sophia said, “Because they are going into the other lines.” Natalie said, “Because the lines go in and the lines that go out make it look longer.” Matilda said, “When you see the arrow pointing down it makes the line look longer.” But Lara said, “It was hard to tell, so my brain decided that it looked longer.”

To demonstrate an optical illusion, the girls had to cut out a fish, attach it to a stick, and roll it around in their hands to make the fish appear to go into a bowl. As Annie said, “You have to spin it fast for the fish to go in the bowl.” And Nina explained, “The two sides look like they are together when you are spinning it fast. Your eyes make them come together.”

They had lots of fun perfecting their ‘fast faces’ as they rolled the sticks in their hands. 

Next door, Miss Christofa’s room and Ms Bauer were helping groups of girls to create sequences of instructions (an algorithm) to trace around the shape of a number or a letter. The girls then used the algorithm to program a Bee-Bot to navigate a route and trace out the shape of the number (their age) that they’d marked out on a large piece of paper on the floor. It wasn’t too bad for the 6 and 7-year-olds, but the 8-year-olds found it particularly tricky to program their Bee-Bots!

Grace said, “I liked pressing the buttons. But it was challenging remembering to press the clear button.” Sadie said, “I learnt that you need to know your left and right to do this activity!” And Isabel, who is in Kindy, said, “I found it challenging to write the instructions for the Bee-Bot to trace over a number.”

Meanwhile in the Piazza, Mrs Smith and Mrs Riley challenged the girls to work in pairs to make an electrical circuit. Each duo was given a series of conducting wires, a battery terminal and a light bulb, but no instructions. They had to collaborate, using their logic to turn on the light bulb. Some found it easier than others, but there was a lot of excitement when they figured it out.

It was a fantastic day that left everyone from Kindergarten to Year 6 with a newfound appreciation for the magic that is Science! A huge thank you to Director of STEM, Dr Alisha Thompson for putting together such a fabulous day and to all the Science Department and Junior School teachers who helped to coordinate experiments and activities.