A school day to remember:
At The Archbishop’s Minor Seminary Secondary School, the thematic week is organized annually. This year’s theme was Discovering the World through Science and saw the participation of all the students at school.
The theme chosen highlighted the importance and relevance of science in our world and in today’s modern lifestyle. Varied tasks were set for all the year groups to emphasise that science should be fun for all ages. Students had to select their own task and group per year group.
As shown in this photo, for year 7, the school invited Mr Lino Psaila whose passion is the art of building kites. He showed the students the skills necessary to build a good one. Through this talk the students got in touch with the aerodynamics involved in flying a kite. Then they were given the materials needed and each group built one up. They really enjoyed this activity as once they finished they were very keen to test it in flight in the school grounds.
The Year 8 students built up a rocket using a number of recycled objects. They had to write about the choice of materials and explain their particular set up. Most used air or water pressure with the help of various air pumps. It was impressive to watch some rockets shoot up in the sky some 40m. The students first had to test their rocket, possibly improving and then compete with one another. During the competition, students from our primary looked on and were thrilled to follow and ask.
Year 9 students built a vehicle powered without the use of fuels. Using liquid and air pressure proved to be so effective!. The winning vehicle was the one which moved the longest distance in the school ground.
Another interesting activity involved the Year 10 group in a maths trail. Groups of students made their way around the school using plotting compasses and a list of instructions. They had to find their way through a maze of tasks in the school grounds. The students had to use their mathematical skills and logistics to reach their destination.
Other Year 10 students were involved in chemistry experiments where they had to do a number of investigations in the lab. Physics students were involved in creating their own musical instruments from various simple objects around the house.
The Year 11 students were involved in a number of activities that included:
i) robotics: building a robot and give it a set of commands to perform a particular task -an activity that was very engaging for the students.
ii) video editing: Students had to capture a set of video shots and then edit as necessary. Actually, these students were busily filming all the science activities and also doing interviews to their peers and or teachers to produce their own video.
iii) Electricity Generation: Students built a simple system to generate enough electricity to light an LED. The students were encouraged to prepare their plans beforehand and to consider alternative methods of electricity generation.
Most students generated electricity by wiring up specific fruit and vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes and lemons. The different voltage generated resulted in LED of different brightness. Other groups preferred use of generators or simple dynamos using the movement of a conductor through a magnetic field. All students enjoyed the activity and added their creativity to their particular setup.
iv) Biology investigations: Different types of soils from various places around the island were tested and the results compared. In this way,the typical composition of each sample of soil was duly noted.
Although it takes a lot of energy and effort to organise such an activity the time invested was worth the while. The students enjoyed themselves in doing these science activities that were appealing and challenging. It was noted that these hands-on activities triggered scientific thinking, enhanced the importance of team work among teachers and students alike and above all rendered the fun of doing scientific tasks. The activity was therefore a success!
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Making the school a better place | |
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