Tag Archive | STEM

Wooooooo!!!

Wooooooooo!!! Today the OC attended a special event at the University of Newcastle – Woo, New & You! We listened to lots of experts in the field of maths, science and STEM, with the highlight being an inspirational talk from Australian of the Year and teaching superstar Eddie Woo. Eddie’s presentation was titled Reimagining Maths and focused on the ideas of mathematics being about playfulness, exploration and teamwork. We got to meet Eddie, who was incredibly generous with his time, and all received a copy of his amazing book Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths! 

STEM Spectacular!

Thank you to our amazing students, parents and grandparents who came along to celebrate Education Week with us today. Students thoroughly enjoyed leading our younger students in a range of STEM activities from Ozobots to slime, and it was lovely to receive such positive feedback from our visiting guests. Happy Education Week!

OC Solar Stars!

Congratulations to our awesome OC who had a great day at the Mini EV Festival yesterday! A huge thank you to Steve (Blade & Fin’s dad) who helped us build and solder our carts throughout the term. Well done to team Lightning Llamas: Celeste, Raquel and Liana, whose cart placed 1st in the Pursuit Race and to team Eclipse: Eleanor, Amie, Eliza, Emma, Ember, whose cart placed 2nd in the Solar Sprint Race. We also brought home trophies for best team spirit and enthusiasm and 2 for engineering design and innovation. Well done, everyone! Click below to see our photos (and turn the sound up to 11!)

Build a Bridge!

This term in science we’ve been studying the unit The Structure and Function of Cities. Students have been exploring systems in the built environment and the environmental factors that influence their design. This week we learnt about bridges and students did a great job designing and building their own. Their bridges needed to be able to transport a matchbox car, be aesthetically pleasing and be able to hold at least 100 grams. Students presented and tested their bridges at our Stage 3 Bridge Off this afternoon. Have a look at their handiwork below…

Science & Engineering Day!

This week the OC attended the Science & Engineering Challenge at St Therese’s School in New Lambton. We took part in a variety of team challenges including bridge building, creating a mini catapult, making an electricity network, building an earthquake stable tower and designing a chair for pets. We had a wonderful day and were very pleased to finish 3rd. Well done, everyone!

Year 5 STEM Festival

Well done to the Year 5 students who attended yesterday’s Hunter Valley STEM Festival to compete in the Jaguar Primary School Challenge for 2016. Students headed off first thing in the morning to the Forum at the University of Newcastle to race their model Jaguar race cars that they have been busy designing, constructing, and modifying for the past 2 weeks. This has been a fantastic opportunity for students to experience another application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills and for them to be part of their own mini pit crew. Students were put into teams consisting of a ManagerEngineer, and Graphic Designer. They worked together to develop a design for their Jaguar race car and research modifications that could be made to add wings and spoilers that could potentially give their Jaguar an advantage on the track. Yesterday, students were able to see how well their modifications had worked by placing their cars on a tether line and inserting a compressed CO² canister into the back of their Jaguar. Students then had the challenge of trying to achieve the best reaction time possible at the start line as their Jaguars zoomed down the track. Students were also able to look at a host of interactive exhibits from High School challenges.

Congratulations to the Melissa McCARthys team who scored the best reaction time and race time for Tighes Hill! Here are photos and videos from the day. Enjoy!​

Mini EV Festival

Well done to everyone who came along to Cameron Park Raceway yesterday to participate in the Mini EV Festival! What a great day – it was wonderful to see the sun shining and lots of families, friends and puppies come out to support us! I was so proud of the fantastic effort all our students made during this project, working on their carts, making team shirts and exhibiting enthusiastic team spirit. A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteer, Bob, who helped us each week with this project. Enjoy the photos below.