Science Week 2024

By Mrs Jo O'Brien, Assistant Head of Junior School Learning and Teaching

Last week the Junior School celebrated National Science Week. Driven by the theme Species Survival: More Than Just Sustainability, the Junior School was buzzing with excitement as students, teachers, and visiting experts explored how we can contribute to the conservation of Earth’s diverse species and help them thrive.

Throughout the week, students from all grades took part in a range of engaging activities, from visits to the Secondary School science labs, to thought-provoking discussions about sustainability, conservation and biodiversity. The theme highlighted the vital message that true species survival calls for innovative solutions and proactive measures to protect and enhance ecosystems globally.

Key highlights of the week included workshops, led by guest speakers including park rangers and scientists, who delivered research presentations about microforests, Gang-gang Cockatoos, worm farms, the impact of light pollution on insects and wildlife, and the migration patterns of the Latham Snipe.

As always, we are grateful for the generous support from our Secondary School science department colleagues who ran lunch time sessions for students in Years 2, 3 and 4. They engaged in interesting presentations that included, among others, imploding Coke cans, and inflating balloons and freezing soap bubbles using dry ice.

Our Years 5 and 6 Round Square students had the opportunity to engage with Julie Armstrong from the ACT for Bees organisation. Julie supported the students in developing an understanding of the Round Square pillar of environmentalism thorough the presentation ‘Join the Buzz: Celebrate, Learn, and Care for Our Essential Pollinators!' To access ACT for Bee's list of the best trees and pollinators in the ACT, click here.

Our resident science expert Mrs Joanne Keogh organised ‘Seedy Science’ activities for every inquiry space. She set up a ‘guess how many seeds in the piece of fruit competition’ and students and teachers alike were encouraged to guess how many seeds were in a lemon, tomato, pumpkin, kiwi fruit, passionfruit, rock melon and a pomegranate. Thank you to Mrs Keogh who has also volunteered to count all the seeds in each fruit. The totals will be revealed to each year level this Friday.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the week a great success, especially our Junior School Science Week committee, Mr Jon Craddock, Mr Dean O’Brien and Mrs Joanne Keogh, Ms Tracey Markovic and Mrs Daniela Gray for their leadership with the Junior School Round Square students, and Ms Tracey Craze and the Secondary School science teachers, presenters, guest speakers and students. Together, we can work toward a future where species survival is more than just sustainability — it is about thriving!