Pūtaiao/ Science - Term 1 and start of Term 2

JUNIORS

Year 7 Science have been introduced to their Investigation topic and have been learning how to run a Fair Test. This is their chance to start working like scientists after having spent Term 1 learning about the laboratory and health and safety. This set them up nicely for planning, carrying out and reporting on an investigation.

Year 8 are using their knowledge and skills gained from Year 7 to do some revision around investigating and to take it one step further this year and come up with their own investigation. This will be linked to the Science Fair.

Year 9 have been learning about how to separate out mixtures and have been coming to terms with scientific vocabulary around dissolving and separation. They are not far off starting on their assessment for this topic. Then they get to learn about elements, the periodic table and atoms!

Year 10 have been creatively making some awesome models related to the human body. Their models need to show how the human body part functions normally, what can go wrong with that part, and what can be done to allow it to go back to its’ normal functioning.

Year 9 Ag started off with an introduction to agriculture, horticulture and the primary industries. The students were then challenged to problem-solve innovative solutions to a range of problems facing the primary industries - building prototypes to showcase their creative ideas.

Year 10 Ag have been learning about the production process of a New Zealand primary product. In groups, students researched the factors that influence where a product is produced and learnt about management practices that may affect the quality, quantity and economics of production. They have now moved on to learning about livestock nutrition, starting with digestive systems.

Junior Ag students have also worked hard, preparing the gardens for the seedlings they have grown.

SENIORS

Our seniors have been busy over the end of last term and start of this term completing assessments for a number of classes.

Our Level 1 Science class is working away steadily and just finishing off their first new NCEA internal assessment. This was based on different ways to investigate and used our local environment as the context - the Waihi River and Talbot Forest. These students will now move on to Chemistry.

Level 2 Bio have completed their first internal assessment - which again, was an investigation, based on the context of enzymes. They are now working on a microscope internal with the Cells topic providing a very good backdrop for this too.

Level 3 Bio is just about to embark on completing their second internal for the year - they have completed their social issue that is biology-based and are now looking at homeostatic mechanisms - how humans keep their body temperature, glucose level etc constant.

Level 2 Chemistry are working hard on titrations and the practical skills that go with that. The context for this internal standard is to determine the concentration of a consumer product by titrating it with a solution of known concentration. They will then compare their result with the manufacturers' claimed concentration of the product.

Level 3 Chemistry had a busy first term completing two of the three internal assessments for the course. This term they are working on the Organic Chemistry topic which is an external. They are learning how to name and draw organic molecules and the reactions of the different organic compounds.

Agriculture - Level 1 has completed its’ first new NCEA internal about the purpose and location of primary production with a focus on milk. Level 2 and 3 have also completed their first assessments. Level 2 learnt about livestock reproductive techniques and Level 3, a practical investigation into the attributes of potato varieties.

Level 2 and 3 Physics have worked on the Mechanics topic in Term 1, strengthening their knowledge and skills in order to give them a head start with their internals. The Mechanics topic is an external. Both classes are now carrying out experimental investigations to discover relationships between physical quantities.