The year may be drawing to a close (there are only 71 days until Christmas at the time of writing!), but things are not slowing down in the Science domain.

Science Week

At the end of last term, Kilbreda celebrated Science Week from 9 – 13 September. Students enjoyed participating in a paper plane engineering design challenge and listening to our guest speaker (past pupil Paula Wasiak) talk about her research with penguins at Phillip Island Nature Parks and her PhD on reintroducing bush stone curlews back into Phillip Island. We held our annual Kilbreda in STEM Morning Tea on Wednesday, which you can read more about on the STEM and DTE page of the newsletter. We finished the week with the much-anticipated Periodic Table Reciting Competition, in which Kara Gurung (Year 8) recited all 118 elements for the second year in a row.

VCE Revision Lectures

Unit 3 and 4 students are busy preparing for their upcoming VCE exams. Biology and Chemistry students demonstrated their commitment and enthusiasm for their subjects (lured by pizza and snacks?) by participating in after-school revision lectures led by external companies. Thank you to Sarah Avitabile, Kylie Carroll and Chris Moore for giving up their evenings to facilitate these lectures. We wish all VCE students well as they head into the exam period.

Forensic Science Incursion

On October 10, Semester 2 Forensic Science students participated in an incursion, using their knowledge of crime scene evidence to solve a murder mystery.

We had to figure out a forensics case. The scenario was that a male had been murdered in a national park and we needed to figure out who did it. We used forensic techniques learned in class to figure out what happened to the victim. Some of the techniques included fingerprint analysis, fibre testing, ballistics and arson analysis. In the end, we found that the victim was shot from far away and then shot twice again from close up. I enjoyed using my knowledge and experience in forensics to figure out who killed the victim.

Madeline Russell

Year 9

Laing O’Rourke Site Visit

On 16 October, 40 Year 10 students graduated from the Laing O’Rourke inspiring STEM+ Program. For the past two years, these students have exhibited dedication and perseverance by giving up an evening a term to learn about engineering and construction in the rail industry, often racing off to sporting or work commitments afterwards. Our last module saw students visiting the Clayton site, where they had the opportunity to stand above what will be the underground train line of the suburban rail loop. Part of the project uncovered a site containing heritage European artifacts, and students were able to help sift through the topsoil to gather pieces of history dating back to the 1800s, including a domino made from bone and parts of children’s toys.

Upon graduation, we hope they have a greater understanding of the career paths available in the construction industry. While there is still a long way to go for females in engineering and construction, we hope that our work here at Kilbreda will make a difference in challenging the stereotypes surrounding STEM fields. Our students know it is a viable career option for them should they pursue it, and they belong in whichever field they choose to share their gifts.

Sarah Chuck

Learning Leader: Science