Launching the School Science Data Base and Science Club

Last night we celebrated science in our school.  We had a wonderful evening where the boys from Year 4 to 8 got to share their science with their parents and families.
The senior school got to celebrate their finalists and the winners were announced.
We had a wonderful night and more on this will follow in the next day or two.

I announced the launch of our school science and technology data base.

I'm looking for parents who may be able to help out in the following ways
*  They might have a science/technology occupation that they could come and talk to the students about to help support our classroom programmes.
*  They might work in a science/technology based area and might be able to have groups or classes come to visit.

* Come and take a lunchtime session with our science club.

You don't need to be a scientist - just someone who has an interest or passion about something to do with science or technology.  The sorts of things could range from teaching the boys the process for bread making, take us for a walk through the bush and teach us about the native trees, wander down to the beach and talk about the geological features around our harbour, a neat little experiment, how to make cool bubbles, teach us something that you know about such as static electricity, our planet, veges, forces, share a rock collection, - the possibilities are endless!
A teacher will always be present so all you need to do is share your passion with the keen kids who form our science club.  Our lunch times run from 12.30 to 1.20.  At this stage the club looks like it will be on a Wednesday but there is flexibility if you can't make that day!

Please don't hesitate to contact me:  jo@wellesley.school.nz
Let me know if you might be keen to
* come and speak to classes about what you do
* possibly have groups or classes visit your work place
* take a session with our science club

Science Investigations Continue

Everyone is well into conducting their own science investigations in the lead up to our Science Night at the end of the term.

Some of the classes conducted a fair test into what types of materials absorb oil the most.  We looked at the Rena and the impact it had on the local coastline.  It was a rather messy investigation but we found some surprising results!

We finished with a couple of experiments that I knew would appeal to boys - making film cannister rockets and finding out if expensive lollies taste nicer than cheaper ones!  It was lots of fun making the rockets, all you need is a little film cannister (the white ones work the best), baking soda and vinegar.  The boys were quite surprised at how high they went.

Surprisingly, and quite often the opposite to boys hypothesis, most classes found that Homebrand Jetplanes taste just as good as Pascall Jetplanes.   When we compared Pineapple Lumps, the results varied so we learnt that it's always good to try a  few different things as without repeat testing, we may not always get a true reflection of the results.

It's also been exciting to see students beginning to use our new 3D printer.  A couple of the senior boys designed a tower which will form part of their wind turbine that they are using in their science fair investigation.  Great to see it up and running!