St. Emilie's Catholic Primary School

Investigating a crime scene in Science !!

October 16, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Blog · Classroom News · Science · Technology and Learning · Year 6

This week our 6B students had an incursion with Joel Booth from Murdoch Science Outreach. A crime scene investigation was brought to life in this workshop. The students explored the chemical properties (such as solubility and pH) of different white powders and then used their reasoning skills to identify an unknown substance recovered from a crime scene.

The workshop commenced with Joel putting on his white lab coat and talking to the students about the investigation.

Here are some images of the students using the pH indicator to identify which colour their solution matched with on the pH scale.

Each team of students had four powders to investigate.

The students also did an iodine test with Betadine to test their powder for starch.

The final activity was to identify two ‘mystery powders’ and then use their skills from the first part of the lesson to work out what these powders were. Each team had success with this as they were able to work out what their powders were.

Joel will be returning to St Emilie’s next week to conduct the investigation with 6G. It was a great experience for the students to work with a chemical sciences student and to hear about Joel’s experiences in the lab and his plans for a career in chemical sciences.

Year 3 students learn more about ‘bandicoots’

September 21, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · Science · Year 3 · Year 3 Blue · Year 3 Gold

Today our delightful Year 3 students received a presentation form Natasha and Janine from the Backyard Bandicoots research program at Murdoch University. Mrs Cogger has been liaising with Murdoch University about our own bandicoot living in St Emilie’s Bushland and she was keen to encourage the researchers to come out to the school for a visit.

The visit commenced with a powerpoint presentation about ‘Quendas’ which is the Noonjar word for the Southern Brown Bandicoot which is using our bushland habitat. Here are a few photos of the powerpoint presentation.

Natasha showed the students the night activation camera that they use to record images and videos of bandicoots.

Mrs Cogger was excited to be using the Learning Hub for the first time.

Click on the link below to hear Natasha explain how big a bandicoot is.

Natasha explains how big a Quenda is.

The students have been learning about Quendas during Science so they were confident at answering the questions posed to them by Natasha.

The students were also keen to share their bandicoot habitats that were constructed in Science this term.

Natasha and Janine shared a digital game with the students. Each student had their own Mac on which to play the game. In the game the bandicoot explored a bushland habitat and the students had to answer questions to move to the next level.

To conclude the visit Natasha and Janine played a quiz with the students. The students who answered correctly received a ‘bandicoot card’.

Click on the links below to hear Louis and Thomas share what they enjoyed most about the visit.

Thomas

Louis

Mrs Cogger would like to sincerely thank Natasha and Janine from Murdoch University for coming to share their knowledge and research with the students. Both Natasha and Janine have given Mrs Cogger some ideas on how we can continue with this project with possible ideas for further investigations about the behaviour of Quendas.

Mrs Cogger highly recommends The ConocoPhillips Science Experience

Mrs Cogger recommends this program for any ex-student of St Emilie’s in years 9 and 10 with a passion for science.

The ConocoPhillips Science Experience is a fun 3 or 4 days of science activities for Year 9 and 10 students in 2017.

Each program is designed to provide students who have an interest in science with an opportunity to engage in a wide range of fascinating science activities under the guidance of scientists who love their work.

Here are a few images to show the types of science experiences offered on the program.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

If you think you your teenager would be interested click on the link below to find out more about the program.

https://www.scienceexperience.com.au

Here are the program dates and costs for WA.

WA

UNIVERSITIES & TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS	PROGRAM DATES	BEST APPLY BEFORE
Curtin University , Perth focused on year 9 students	7,8,11 and 12 December 2017	30 November 2017
Edith Cowan University, Joondalup	16 – 19 January 2018	30 December 2017
Murdoch University, Perth	11 – 14 December 2017	2nd December 2017
University of Western Australia, Perth	16 – 18 January 2018	10 January 2018

The four day program costs $200 and the three day program is $150.

Mrs Cogger is so excited about this opportunity that she has already registered her own son! She sees this as a great opportunity for young people to experience life at university and careers in science .

2B Potato planting

August 31, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · Science · Year 2 · Year 2 Blue

Today the Year 2B students planted their potato crop assisted with ‘military precision’ by Mr Cogger. Mr Cogger dug the rows for us and even set out little markers so that the seed potatoes will be evenly spaced.

Here are a few photos of our students enjoying the experience. They were so excited and bursting to get out there! 🙂

Mrs Cogger thinks this could be fun…..

Vote for our Year One’s on Ripple Effect!

August 22, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Science · Uncategorized · Year 1 · Year 1 Blue · Year 1 Gold

As part of our commitment to the Waterwise Schools program we are invited to submit our learning activities to their Ripple Effect page. Ripple Effect is about sharing our water education activities, exploring what other schools are doing and voting for our favourites!

Please click on this link and you will be taken to the Ripple Effect page where you can vote for St Emilie’s Year One students.

Drip tips on Ripple Effect – Waterwise Schools

Celebrating National Science Week at St Emilie’s

August 18, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · Science · Uncategorized · Year 1 · Year 2 · Year 3 · Year 4 · Year 5 · Year 6

The media this week has been covering many new Science innovations as part of it’s coverage about National Science Week. Here at St Emilie’s we also celebrated this exciting learning area. Enjoy these few images and clips about our experiences this week.

Our major event was by invitation to the CSIRO STEM in Schools ‘virtual classroom’ that took place this morning. By invitation only, through our involvement in Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools, we were included in a webinar/virtual classroom with a panel of Australians working in the space industry.

Our Year 5 students prepared their own questions to ask the panel and we submitted these for consideration last week. Here are a few of the ideas that we proposed to the panel-

Joshua P– Is it possible for the space junk to come back to earth?

Joshua D – How many times have there been a space disaster on a satellite? How far is the furthest satellite from Earth? What is the most common piece of material in space? How long does it approximately take to make a satellite or rocket ship?

Emmy M– What age was the youngest person ever to go into space?

Meilee R – Do you need to go up there and collect all the space junk?

Francheska D – Have you found any other planets that we humans could also live on?

Joanna T– What was the laser invented for in the first place? What was its purpose when it was first made?

Annette C – How does it space junk stay near Earth without falling back to Earth? What would happen if we didn’t have an ozone layer?

Drew M – Is it possible to go to a different planet and still return? Do you think that there are some undiscovered planets? In NASA who are the most important people for scientific breakthroughs?

Luke H – Could you make something that clears or sucks up all the space junk? How long does it take to reach Mars? Would people be able to live on Kepler?

Enjoy these images of our experience this morning.

The Year 5 students all ready and keen for the ‘virtual classroom’ event to begin.

We heard the answers to questions presented by students from schools all over Australia.

St Emilie’s were lucky to be acknowledged in a ‘shout out’ to schools invited to the webinar. Click on this link and you can view some of the webinar.

Virtual Classroom

Here are some the other lessons that occurred during National Science Week.

The Year 2 students measured the seedling in their Future Garden made from a recycled soft drink bottle.

The students in 5B enjoyed a visit with Gina Pearse from the Mildew Mania project at Curtin University. She also treated our students to a few gifts to celebrate National Science Week.

The Year 4 students are learning about the diversity of bird species that inhabit the school bushland. They are in the process of making their own bird feeders so that they can entice birds into their own gardens at home.

Year 6 students are investigating ocean acidification. The students conducted an investigation with two marine shells placed in different solutions.

Year one students explored the value of water and how it is a vital necessity for life.

Happy National Science Week to all…

Mrs Cogger

Frontiers of Science Expo in Cannington

August 11, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · For Families · Kindy · News · Pre-Primary · Science · Year 1 · Year 2 · Year 3 · Year 4 · Year 5 · Year 6

Mrs Cogger would like to remind all our science enthusiasts about the

FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE EXPO

on Sunday 20th August.

This is always a wonderful ‘free’ event in our local area (Kent St Weir in the Canning River Regional Park) to celebrate National Science Week.

Here is a link to the event details.

Frontiers of Science Expo

Mildew Mania in 5G

August 10, 2017
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · Science · Year 5 · Year 5 Gold

Did you know that next week 12-20 August is National Science Week? This means that as a whole nation we celebrate Science in all it’s disciplines and forms. At St Emilie’s we constantly engage in innovative Science projects with the wider community. The National Science Week topic for 2017 is Future Earth and one of our learning focuses is to ‘promote sustainable rural futures’.

Our Year 5 students have been involved in the Mildew Mania project through the Centre for Crop and Disease Management at Curtin University. So what is Mildew Mania?

Powdery mildew a common barley disease is caused by a fungus called Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (often shortened to Bgh).

This is the major disease of barley in WA, particularly in wetter areas.

A severe infection of powdery mildew (or Bhg) reduces yield and can cause grain to be downgraded to feed.

To commence the project, late in term two the students planted several varieties of barley and wheat.

Then we left our crops to grow. We planted the following varieties of barley – Hindmarsh, Buloke, Baudin and Oxford. We also planted Wyalkatchem wheat. Every week we investigated our crops to see if their was any powdery mildew. This is what it looks like.

This week we invited Gina Pearse and Emily from the Mildew Mania project to come in and talk to the students about the project.

First the students were shown a powerpoint and given little key pads so that they could enter their own answers to various questions.

After the presentation the students were split into four groups and conducted their own investigations using the equipment provided by Gina and Emily.

Station one – using a Dinolite digital microscope to investigate barley seeds and a barley plant.

Station two – taking a barley leaf sample and placing it carefully into a test tube with agar jelly and then taking a swap of the leaf.

Station three – identifying different seed varieties.

Station four – using a microscope with a barley sample that has been infected with the disease.

After careful examination of our own Baudin barley crop, we were able to observe that our crop has the powdery mildew disease!! We were able to see the pustules by using the Dinolite digital microscope provided by Curtin University.

So what does this all mean? We will continue with the project throughout term 3 and into term 4. We will monitor our crops each week to see if the other varieties of barley and wheat have become infected. In term 4 we will take samples of all our crops and submit them to the scientists involved in the Mildew Mania project and they will examine the samples in further detail.

Celebrating National School Tree Planting Day

It was in blustery wintery conditions that the Year 3 students bravely tackled their planting project this morning. 100 tube stock native plants were donated to schools in the southern suburbs by the City Of Canning. This was part of an initiative to celebrate National Schools Tree Planting Day.

The students planted kangaroo paws and Banksia seedlings as well as smaller bushes and ground covers. The 3B students planted their tube stock in the early childhood and Year 1-6 bushland.

The students had fun using the ‘tube stock planter’. It’s like a big pogo stick!

Mrs Cogger was impressed with the care that the students used to dig a large hole for their seedling and the gentle way seedlings were removed from their container.

3G planted their tube stock plants along the entrance to the school and by the exit gate where the Busy Bee helpers worked very hard to clear the weeds and dense scrub in Term One.

Mrs Cogger sincerely thanks the wonderful parents who volunteered to help. We had a wonderful time and much was achieved with their help and supervision of the students. We also thank the City of Canning for the generous donation of tube stock. You will see our fantastic work when you use the drive through.

Well done Year 3s!