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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 Champions!

Congratulations to the OC who were the winners at today’s Science & Engineering Challenge! Students did a fantastic job working through a series of STEM challenges which included bridge building, creating a bionic hand, designing a chair, creating an earthquake-proof tower, wiring a city with electricity and creating secret coded messages to send via fibre optic rods. Well done to everyone for their team work, problem solving and creativity. It’s been a huge week, so enjoy a relaxing weekend!


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!

It’s Raining Eggs!

We completed our STEM Spectacular this afternoon with a combined Stage 3 activity – The Egg Drop Challenge! Students weegg dropre tasked with designing and making a contraption to support an egg (yes, a raw one) during a high drop. Thanks for your efforts and generosity donating recyclable materials for the challenge. There were lots of interesting items, including plastic bags, balloons, bubble wrap, cardboard, foam, bottles and boxes! It was great to see lots of creative and innovative designs and many secure contraptions that helped their egg land safely. Thank you to Mrs Bowman for organising this wonderful activity for us today!

STEM Spectacular!

stemWhat a fabulous way to celebrate Education Week today! Despite the miserable weather, it was great to see so many grandparents, parents, friends and family attend our STEM classroom activities and shared lunch! Congratulations to our Year 5/6 students who were undoubtedly the stars of the day. I was so proud of the wonderful job our students did presenting their activity for our younger grades and our many visitors. Thank you to everyone who came along today and supported this terrific event! Check out the photos below of our mini-scientists in action…

Engineering Extravaganza!

http://www.rasaint.net/ - Glitter Graphics

Today the OC attended the Science & Engineering Challenge at Kahibah Public School. We took part in a variety of team challenges including bridge building, making a bionic hand, creating a mini catapult, making an electricity network, building an earthquake stable tower and designing a water distribution system. We had a terrific day and were super excited to be announced as the winners at the end of the day. Well done, everyone! I’m so proud of you.

Robogals

Today our Stage 3 girls had a special visit from engineering students from the University of Newcastle as part of the Robogals program. We had a great time learning about different types of engineering and programming robots to perform a variety of tasks. This fantastic opportunity is aimed at promoting female participation in engineering as currently only 10% of engineers are women. Go girls!

robogals

Thanks to the wonderful uni students who joined us today.

Let the Sun Shine!

Thanks to the beautiful sunny weather today, the OC were finally able to compete in their solar cart race challenge. A big thank you to Dr Graeme Puxty, our Scientists in Schools partner, who helped students construct their carts at the end of last term and joined us today for our official midday race. Students also had a great time customising their vehicles in the lead up to the race, using lots of striking designs and a fair bit of glitter! Well done to Max, Adrian, Oliver and Zane who had the fastest cart during today’s race. Thanks again to Dr Graeme for providing some terrific prizes – CSIRO Rubik’s cubes! We look forward to our next class visit in Term 4.