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!

STEM groups!

Last week, Stage 3 began their STEM groups! We made and tested paper helicopters, experimented with Strawbees creations, and coded Ozobots around a track. Each week our groups explore challenges involving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Looking forward to more scientific exploration throughout the term!

 

 

Hovercraft Challenge!

Students in 6B were provided with pop-top lids, masking tape, balloons, and CDs and asked to make a hovercraft with a team. The teams then raced their hovercrafts. There was a balloon tampering incident, but overall the racers had a good day of competition at the track. Please enjoy our footage of the competition below. Shout out to the flag bearers, boom mic operators, scorekeeper, and commentators for their enthusiasm!

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

Last Wednesday, selected students from stage 3 participated in 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 learnt a lot about engineering. Well done, everyone!

Jaguar Primary School Challenge

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 Manager, Engineer, 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!

STEM Day – Education Week

To celebrate Education Week 2016, THPS held a STEM Day and invited grandparents and families to join in on the fun. Students in Stage 3 led a variety of science experiments for years K-4, including making sherbet, slime, wobbly balloons, the top diver experiment, balloon rockets, exploding lunch bags, and rocket pinwheels. I was incredibly proud of the way our mini scientists ran their experiments, taking their time to explain concepts to younger students and involving everyone in their group. We then enjoyed a sausage sizzle lunch with families. Despite the poor weather today, it was lovely to see so many Tighes Hill families come along and show their support. There were many proud grandparents watching their grandchildren learn today and it was a genuine pleasure to be involved in this event. After lunch, students headed back to their classrooms where they participated in engineering challenges. Kindergarten constructed cup towers, years 1 and 2 built structures out of jubes and toothpicks and tested their strength by placing different weighted objects on them (before consuming all the delicious jubes left over at the end!), years 3 and 4 made catapults using rubber bands, paddle pop sticks, and spoons, and years 5 and 6 took part in the egg drop challenge, where they had to build a cage to protect a raw egg and drop their cage from different heights. It was such a fantastic day that was put together by our wonderful staff and community. Well done to our Year 5 and 6 students who really stepped up today. I could definitely see some future scientists and teachers as I visited the classes today. Here are some photos from our day!