St Peter’s Woodlands celebrated National Science Week.

From the ELC to Primary, the school celebrated National Science Week, embracing the theme, ‘Glass – More Than Meets The Eye’.

Students researched, explored, observed, questioned and hypothesised in lots of different ways across the week. In the ELC students made stain glass windows and observed the changes in light through the different colours. In Year 1 the students experimented with how oil, water and dye interact.

It was a fantastic week to acknowledge the value of science, however the science didn’t stop there. Science is all around us and taught throughout the year within the Units of Inquiry.

Currently inquiries are occurring through the ‘Sharing the Planet’ theme. Reception students are inquiring into Mini-beasts as part of the ‘World We Share’. Year 1 students are inquiring into special places and the relationship with environment, understanding how the special relationship Kaurna people have with the environment.

Year 2 students have been inquiring into the impacts humans can have on one of our greatest resources, water. The Year 4 students have been learning about how relationships assist the survival of living things, inquiring into the concepts of systems, ecosystems and symbiotic relationships.

Year 3 students have been inquiring into the theme ‘How The World Works’, investigating Materials and their properties, in particular, Matter.

To top it all off, students were delighted to be visited by Nitro Nat, and observed many experiments where balls were flying, gases exploding and loud bangs with Nitro Nat. She kept the enthusiasm for science going in week 5 as she provided us with another exciting learning experience about “Phantastic Physics”.

Oliphant Science Awards
Congratulations to all of our SPW students who submitted entries into the Oliphant Science Awards this year. We had entries in a range of categories from hands on experiments, to science writing and inquiry. All submissions were on display at Science Alive.

Students Pradyun (Year 4) and Amir (Year 1) were hugely successful, receiving a winners position for their entries. They will be presented with their awards in October.

Pradyun created an App called “EnviroKidz” in the programming, apps and robotics category. The app is designed to help students understand how to care for the environment. While Amir was awarded for his scientific inquiry titled, “Are my hands really clean?”.

Marcus (Year 6) and Elliot (Reception) received highly commended awards. Marcus for his game “Cosmic Creator” and Elliot for her photography poster on playground physics.

All entries are displayed in the windows of the Library Seminar Room. It was brilliant to see SPW represented amongst so many other South Australian schools.

If this is something that interest you, then keep an eye out for information in 2023 via Skoolbag.

Article shared by Lisa Harris, Director of Innovation & Enrichment.