Hands-on science workshops wows students
Twenty John Berne High School students recently enjoy a fun-filled day of interactive and innovative science workshops from Fizzics Education courtesy of a $980 donation from Canterbury League Club.
The five workshops on the day catered to students from Year 7-10 and demonstrated different scientific principles taught within the science curriculum in an easy-to-understand and accessible format.
“During the workshops students were attentive, interested and excited by what they saw and appreciated the way in which the presenter from Fizzics Education conducted each experiment in a knowledgeable and accessible manner,” said Nicole Arathoon, Curriculum Coordinator at John Berne School.
Year 9 students kicked off the day of workshops with clouds of nitrogen, popping cans, expanding balloons and levitating superconductors in ‘The Liquid Nitrogen Show’ which demonstrated how solids, liquids and gases change rapidly when heated and cooled.
After that Year 10 students watched in wonder at ‘The Chemistry Show’ which demonstrated how dry ice bubbles, liquids changing colour with added chemicals, the chemistry of fireworks, acids versus bases and the changing colour of flames.
The day ended with a fascinating interactive ‘Stars and Planets’ workshop for Year 7 and 8 students who learnt more about the Big Bang Theory, the differences between Earth and other planets, the boundary of the solar system and the composition of Earth’s atmosphere.
“Our science teachers are limited by time and resources so the school invited Fizzics Education to expose our students to the skills of experimenting, hypothesizing and investigating which is a mandatory requirement in the Australian Science Curriculum. The science workshops presented complex scientific concepts in easily accessible ways which engaged the most difficult of students, ignited their interest in a subject which they may have found boring, and exposed students to chemicals in a safe manner,” said Arathoon.
“We also would like to acknowledge Canterbury League Club – without your wonderful and necessary financial support our students would continue to miss out.”
“A good grasp on science and how the world around us works is very important knowledge to have and it’s fantastic that there are alternative ways to learn about it rather than just from text books or a typical class setting,” said Dr George Peponis OAM, Chairman of Canterbury League Club.
