St. Emilie's Catholic Primary School — Archive

Christmas wishes from Science

I would like to wish all our students and their families a most Happy Christmas full of warm summer sunshine and good cheer. Take care and look after each other and I will see you again in 2017 for more exciting St Emilie’s Science.

I would also like to thank you all for your encouragement and support throughout the year.

And to all the parents who helped out with the Year 2 and 3 Veggie Garden Project – whether it be washing the gloves, weeding, planting, picking or selling – a big thank you. I hope you enjoyed the produce!

Happy holidays!!

Mrs Cogger

Electric circuits with Mr Sayer

Our last lesson with Mr Sayer for 2016 was learning about volts, amps and ohms in an electric circuit. We started out our session with a class discussion on

What is electricity?
What do we use it for?
Where and how do we source electricity?

To complete the tasks the students needed to learn many new words and their meanings. For example:

Then the students were placed in their teams to complete the challenges. The students took readings from the multimeter to measure the pressure in the battery and readings from the ammeter to measure the rate at which the current would flow. Here are a few images of the students conducting their circuit challenges.

Something new that we learned by conducting the challenges was OHMS law. The students were able to measure resistance using the data from the ammeter and multimeter readings.

We thank Mr Sayer for his continued mentoring in Science at St Emilie’s and we wish both Mr Sayer ands wife Suzanne a very Happy Christmas.

Disassembling a 2 stroke engine with Mr Sayer

November 29, 2016
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · News · Science · Uncategorized · Year 6

The Year 6 Science inquiry students met with Mr Sayer this week for a most interesting task – dissembling an engine. Firstly Mr Sayer explained the difference between a 2 stroke and a 4 stroke engine. For todays activity we were just going to focus on the 2 stroke engine.

We started out with a brainstorm about ‘combustion’ which means the burning of any fuel. The students understood that for combustion to occur there must be three elements –

Then Mr Sayer slowly pulled apart the engine of a weed trimmer taking care to explain each component and it’s role in the engine system.

Here are a few photos with supporting facts to show what we learned about 2 stroke engines.

SPARK PLUG: Ignites fuel air mixture above the piston to cause the fuel to burn (combustion)

CRANKSHAFT: Converts up/down motion of piston to rotary motion.

MAGNETO: Electric generator to create spark at correct moment in the cycle.

PISTON & CONNECTING ROD: Gas at high pressure forces piston down.

FUEL TANK: holds petrol and oil mixture.

AIR FILTER: prevents dirt and dust entering engine and causing wear.

CARBURETTOR: mixes fuel into air in correct proportions and controls amount of fuel entering engine to control power output.

CORD PULL STARTER: provides initial rotation to start engine.

We thank Mr Sayer for providing such an interesting activity with an accompanying powerpoint to help explain all the important facts.

Battery Recycling at St Emilie’s

November 19, 2016
Kerrie Cogger
· For Families · Kindy · Messages · parish · Parish News · Pre-Primary · Science · Uncategorized

Well done to our school community for keeping up with our battery recycling project. This is one of our Wastewise initiatives at St Emilie’s. Recently waste management at the City of Gosnells came out to empty our bin and take our battery waste to be recycled.

What happens when batteries are recycled?

After batteries are collected, they are sorted into their types and components and sent to licensed recycling facilities in Australia or overseas for processing. Recycling battery components is a complex and expensive process due to the chemistry involved.

When lead acid batteries are recycled, the lead plates are restored back to new battery standards, the sulfuric acid is converted to sodium sulfate and used in laundry detergent and fertiliser, and the plastic casing is broken down into pellets and made into new battery containers, bins, and plant pots.

The nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion components in rechargeable batteries can also be recycled. The recovered metals are made into other products, while the cadmium can be returned to battery manufacturers to create a fully closed loop recycling system.

Keep up your good work St Emilie’s community. The battery recycling bin is in the front admin.

Mrs Cogger

Please vote for us…..

November 6, 2016
Kerrie Cogger
· Science · Uncategorized · Year 1 · Year 2 · Year 3 · Year 4 · Year 5 · Year 6

St Emilie’s has placed a ‘post’ on the Waterwise Schools ‘Brag about it’ page. Please click on the image below to learn about our role in educating students about being Waterwise. We also need you to ‘vote‘ for us. So please click the like button if you support what we have been doing to educate the students about being Waterwise.

Celebrating National Water Week at St Emilie’s

October is always a special month for Waterwise schools and being a Waterwise School means that the students at St Emilie’s take time to stop and learn more about our most precious resource. The National Water Week theme fro 2016 was Water, Life, Growth.

National Water Week provides an opportunity to remind ourselves and teach others that water must be used wisely if there is to be enough to meet the needs of our future generations. While the week is dedicated to encouraging communities to take action to protect our vital water sources, it’s also a celebration of innovation and water achievements that have and will contribute to Australia’s sustainable future and economic prosperity.

At St Emilie’s this students enjoyed several activities that focused on water and it’s importance in the growth of plants. Here is a snapshot of some of the activities that the students were engaged in using our mini magnifying microscopes donated to the school from the Rotary Club.

The Year 4 and 5 students investigated how a plants root system brings water from the ground to the surface parts of a plant. The students used their mini microscopes to investigate the roots of a plant and how they work.

The Year 3 students learned that stems are a plant’s water pipeline. Inside the stems are lots of thin tubes that carry water and minerals from the roots while others transport sugars from the leaves to all parts of the plant. The students used their mini microscopes to investigate the water transport system in celery.

The Year 6 students learned how a plant loses water through it’s leaves in a process know as ‘transpiration’. Water escapes through tiny holes found on the underside of leaves known as ‘stomata’ which allow carbon dioxide and oxygen in and out. The students used their mini microscopes to observe and investigate four different types of leaves from the bushland – Banksia, Gum, Sheoak and Wattle.

The Year 2 students were shown various images of drought affected areas of Australia. The students created their own raindrop with a water saving message.

Finally our little Year One students created a mini-green house with a plastic glove so that all the sprouting and growing inside would be visible to young inquisitive minds. The gloves are on display in the Year One classrooms. The students will monitor the growth of the different seeds inside the glove over the next few weeks.

Incursion with Curtin Science Outreach

October 20, 2016
Kerrie Cogger
· News · Science · Uncategorized · Year 6

This week, two under graduate students from the Curtin Science Outreach program visited our Year 6 classes . 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. Aleesha and Miki 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.

Celebrating National Science Week at St Emilie’s

August 22, 2016
Kerrie Cogger
· Science · Year 1 · Year 2 · Year 3 · Year 4 · Year 5 · Year 6

The National Science Week theme for 2016 is Drones, Droids and Robots. Mrs Cogger is pleased to announce that earlier this year she applied for a $500 National Science Week grant and was a worthy recipient. She has bought various resources and equipment to give our students the best opportunity to explore and investigate this amazing topic.

The Drones, Droids and Robots theme was chosen specifically to highlight STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths by focusing on autonomous systems technology. It also takes us on a fascinating journey between ‘science fiction’ and ‘science fact’.

Over the past few weeks each class has had several learning experiences however the highlight of the week was a presentation from Brightwater Research Group. Brightwater is dedicated to identifying key opportunities to research and pilot projects that will directly contribute to improving the lives of people who need support, in particular patients suffering from brain injury, concussion,dementia and neurological conditions.

Mrs Cogger would like to thank Alison McEniery for her guidance as she helped ignite and initiate several ideas about the robots used in the medical system and this led to a visit from a robot known as ZORA.

To learn more about Zora click on the links below to find out about her presentation to the Year 5 students. The students were fascinated!!

Mrs Cogger would like to thank Madeline Wallington (former student) for helping create an iMovie to share the best clips of Zora.

This is Zora showing us how she walks and then introducing herself to us.

Here she is again and this time she is playing a game with Taj called ‘Guess the sport’.

Zora explained about her role in the hospital and how she assists people.

The highlight of the presentation was when Zora danced to Gangman Style!

Zora the Robot

There have been many other wonderful learning experiences this term. The Year One students have been learning about what makes a robot a robot. Mrs Cogger made up her own game called ‘Jump for robots’ We have also been looking at what is inside a robot – all the gizmos and gadgets that go on inside!!

Year Two have had a fabulous time conducting their own fair test investigations with robotic arms.

Year Three have been investigating robotic toys. The students have been conducting their own fair tests to see how fast a RC vehicle can travel on different surfaces.

The Year Four students have been introduced to robotic insects called Hexbug Nanos. They are investigating how the Hexbug uses it’s sensors to navigate through a maze.

Finally our Year Six students enjoyed a visit from Mr Sayer our mentor through the SMiS initiative. Each team presented their findings about the pros and cons of various robots used in our society.

One more thing that Mrs Cogger would like to add is that last week she travelled to Wongan Hills about 2 hours from Perth in the Wheatbelt to present some workshops on behalf of the SMiS. Together with Mr Sayer they presented three workshops to students in years 6 from the following schools Today, Dalwallinu and Dowerin.

If you are wondering where Wongan Hills is, take a peek at this map.

Mr Cogger insisted on driving Mrs Cogger to Wongan Hills as he was worried about the wet weather last Wednesday and travelling after school in the dark. It was a lovely drive as all the creeks and stream were following and the crops green and flourishing. We also enjoyed a glimpse of some early wildflowers.

It was a great opportunity to take ‘Science’ to the country and show the students and teachers what can be achieved in a SMiS partnership.

Make sure you drop in to MPR on Open Night to see all we have been learning about Drones, Droids and Robots.

National Science Week 13-21 August 2016

National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. Running each year in August, it features more than 1000 events around Australia, delivered by schools, research institutions, museums, science centres and more.

These events attract children, adults, science amateurs and professionals, with over one million people participating across the nation.

National Science Week is an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists’ to the world. It also encourages an interest in science among the general public and encourages young people to be fascinated by the world we live in.

Mrs Cogger has posted many of the events on the noticeboard outside the Kindy and Admin building. However, if you would like to take a closer look at what is on and available take a look at the file below.

This is a great opportunity to celebrate National Science Week as a family.

National Science Week 2016 events

Waterwise Schools Incursion

Towards the end of term one the students from Years 1-6 had a visit from Waterwise Schools. Here is a report of the visit by Emma Garland 6B

On Tuesday 22nd March the year six students had an incursion with Megan Brown from Waterwise Schools. We learnt how to be Waterwise and save our water.

Our water source is decreasing because we are not getting enough rain. So we need to use other options and not just rely on dams. We are using ground water and ocean water and this is where desalination comes in. Through desalination salt is removed from the water through a process called reserve osmosis and turned into drinking water. Once the salt has been removed fluoride, chlorine, lime juice and carbon dioxide is added. After this the water is ready to be added to our water supply system.

In the future we are going to use our wastewater and clean it for drinking. We need to save water by having shorter showers and only using exactly what we need.

The Year six students learnt a lot and now we know what we need to do to help conserve our water supply.