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Director's Report
Harold Cheung - Assistant Principal and MSA Director
It has been a wonderful term of exciting and engaging activities in term three as the MSA program continues to extend, enhance and enrich our students’ learning experience in the theme of STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
Our students this year have actively engaged within these activities in extending their experiences and ensuring that they reach their full potential.
Some of our engaging and enhancing experiences have included our year seven students at the Meccano incursion where our students were able to extend on their robotics skills in terms of building new structures and experimenting with new designs.
Our students in year seven also worked closely with our primary schools in a storybook activity. In conjunction with Heany Park Primary School, our students were assigned a buddy to design a maths and science-themed storybook for their buddy.
This is a way of not only building confidence and engagement, but also building community connections which we proudly believe in and would like to extend on.
Our work with Heany Park allowed our students to build on their literacy skills and also working with younger students and leading them in the future.
In year eight, our students had the experience of visiting Monash University and working with some of their engineers and scientists in terms of engaging with the industry and working with them in learning about contemporary skills and research.
Our year nine students went to Werribee Zoo, and worked further on their biology unit – they participated in a workshop ‘Eat or be eaten’. Through this experience, students have the opportunity to build on their learning and apply it to a natural setting.
Our year 10 students continue to fundraise through the Interact Club for their community research projects, including at Wantirna Market on a Sunday, Stud Park, where not only have they built stronger connections with the community but also enhance their leadership skills through the Interact Club.
Our students also participated in industry placement this year, in the first time it has occurred at the College.
Students broke into groups and went to Enable, Hanson and a_space where they applied their research, engineering and design skills and applied them to a project. Some of the projects included a rehab project for Hanson’s Lysterfield site, building and designing assistant technology for the disabled, and outdoor fitness space. We are very excited about this program and look forward to seeing this continue in the future.
Our students also represented the College at the Knox Young Leaders conference where Caitlin Korke and Jagnoor Jaswal looked at youth issues and identified things to better the lives of youth in the Knox district. Furthermore, our students also participated in debating and the four-way speaking competition as part of the south-east region. Congratulations to Mabel Soon for reaching the semi-finals.
There have also been an array of events attended by the whole of the MSA program, including assemblies, the Professor Bunsen incursion where students saw some incredible experiments.
We are very excited with our program, and very proud of the achievements of all our students in the MSA. We are excited not only for the learning outcomes, but the way they have engaged with the community and the activities which the program offers.
We continue to extend on our robotics program and continue to look for new opportunities where students can engage in the field of maths and science.
We thank all parents for all their support of their child’s learning and support of the Maths & Science Academy, and wish you a happy and safe holiday.
Principal's Report
- with Julie Kennedy
Rowville Secondary College in 2016
Can you guess what this is? (Keep reading –the answer is in there somewhere!):
People are born curious. Did you know that preschool children ask their parents an average of 100 questions a day. By year nine, many have stopped asking questions.
In school, students are often rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question. Which may explain why children who start off asking endless “why” and “what if” questions, gradually ask fewer and fewer questions as they progress through school.
Curiosity and Powerful Learning
The focus at Rowville Secondary College in 2016 is designing lessons that ensure young people are great learners and their curiosity is active whenever and wherever they learn. Our goal is for every student to be curious, literate and numerate. Lessons that promote curiosity often start with a great question that taps into students’ interests and experiences.
A lesson from Alice in Wonderland
What does curiosity look like in the classroom?
The photograph above is an extreme close up of a bee’s eye. Aren’t the hair follicles surprising!
MSA Industry Program
Year 10 MSA students participated in the industry program this term, where students stepped into ‘real-world’ industry life.
Among the companies involved in the industry program were Enable and Hanson Quarry, and A_space.
The program saw the students connect with the engineering and science industry and respond to a project design brief set by the business, providing project support and mentoring for the students.
The students worked productively in teams and proudly presented their projects to management at their workplace and representatives from Rowville Secondary College.
Into the wild
Emily Williams, 9M
It was a sunny but cold Thursday morning when class 9M boarded the bus, going to Werribee zoo.
The class was excited to go to the zoo, as many of us hadn’t been there for a couple of years.
When we arrived, we eagerly headed off in our groups to see many of the animals. We walked around, looking at the animals and looking at our phones, watching out for Pokémon.
Soon, it was our turn to go on the safari. The bus took us through many enclosures, and we saw many animals like hippos, lions, zebras and bison.
After lunch, we did the activity ‘To eat or to be eaten’, where we learnt about herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. We also got to hold a snake, which seemed to be excited by our visit.
Soon it was time to leave. The class had a great time, and can’t wait to go again.
7M primed for strong finish
MSA's 7M looks set for an exciting finish to the year off the back of a groundbreaking third term.
In a term dominated by Rube Goldberg machine construction and the study of physics, forces and motion, teacher Daniel Sherlock has overseen the overwhelming progress.
"Throughout the Term, 7 MSA has closely examined the study of physics, forces and motion and have achieved some amazing things," he said.
"Although we have examined theoretical concepts such as Newton’s three laws and learning to draw force diagrams, the group’s greatest achievements have come from the practical undertakings including the Goldberg Machine Expo and the investigations surrounding friction."
While the Goldberg Expo may not have had the outcomes some may have liked, Sherlock believes the commitment and dedication of the students was second-to-none, and couldn't be prouder.
"The Goldberg Machine Expo, whilst not having the desired outcomes for most groups, demonstrated the commitment and dedication that each member of the class had adopted for the course of the design, construction and evaluation phases of the task," he said.
"The review process showed a very detailed and formal level of understanding across the board from all students and I am extremely proud of their hard work this term."
National Science Week
Rowville Secondary College joined primary and secondary schools across the country this term in celebrating National Science Week.
For the annual event, the College’s science faculty turned on an array of events across both campuses, ranging from chemistry, forensic science, light and energy, psychology and CFA activities.
Science faculty coordinator Kim McMahon saw all the action unfold.
“This year for National Science Week we have been running lunch time activities to engage and ignite the scientific curiosity of our students,” McMahon said.
“The questions we investigated included “How do you make ice-cream using chemistry?”, “Who dunnit? The great coffee cup crime of RSC”, and “Do firefighters really rescue cats from trees?”.”
Forensic science proved a popular topic during the week according to McMahon, as the students engaged in the study of fingerprints and blood-typing.
“On Wednesday at the East, students had the chance to compare their fingerprints and work out which teacher had left their coffee cup in the sink by looking at the patterns of loops and whirls in the suspect print, comparing them to those left on the suspect cup,” she said.
“They were also able to investigate how blood-typing works and what that means for transfusions and how forensic scientists use animal hair and other trace evidence in their work.”
The Rowville Fire Brigade visited to round out the National Science Week festivities, where the students were granted an ‘access all areas’ tour of a fire truck and its equipment, as well as pick the brains of career firefighters.
“Despite the rain, students had a great time learning to bowl hoses and investigate other equipment on the trucks including the BA sets ‘jaws of life’, distress signal units, water monitors and the pump itself,” McMahon said.
“8W was then treated to a ‘q and a’ session where the career firefighters answered questions such as ‘How fast do you get to drive?’, ‘What’s the weirdest thing you have gone to?’ and the obligatory ‘Do you really rescue cats from trees?’, the answer to which was ‘unfortunately, yes’.
“Thank-you to the A-shift for coming out and helping to give us a memorable end to the week.”
A day at KIOSC
- Kyle Phillips, Nick Lawrence, and Steve Huynh - 8M
On Thursday 11 August 8M and Ms Lucarelli went to KIOSC and learnt about renewable energy and how it is harnessed. The first thing we went and did was an activity where we worked in small groups to learn about different types of energy.
After that we completed the activity in our groups of 2 we went to the teacher to receive a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. At the end once we had done all the activities, we put all our pieces together and we shared our results, and explained how they were related to energy.
We then went into another room where we programmed and built attachments for a Lego NXT mindstorm Robot.
We programmed the robot to do autonomous tasks that we were assigned to do. The tasks were pushing a block into a gap in the Lego hydroelectric plant, putting a white pole up and knocking a black one down, placing a solar panel on a roof, rotating a house by pushing a slider and pushing down a button that spun a wind turbine.
What we had to do is invent things like a motorised pusher, forklift fork, a grabber and a dragger to do the different tasks.
The last activity was making a small scale wind turbine to be spun by a fan, this was to measure the quantity of power coming from the turbine from the different fan organisations and blade lengths.
We experimented different combinations of the number of blades, the length of the blades, and the placement of the blades. We did this as a ‘science experiment,’ and we collected the data by the voltage multiplied by the current.
Prof. Bunsen visits MSA
The Maths & Science Academy's 7M class enjoyed a visit from Prof. Bunsen this term.
Of course, not the real Professor Robert Bunsen, famous for the invention of the school science lab staple, the Bunsen Burner.
Rather, dedicated, admiring South African-born Carl Ahlers, passionate about science and education, whom idolises the great inventor, and assumes the Prof. Bunsen alter-ego as he educates and entertains thousands of students internationally.
Riley Thai was no exception, as the 7 MSA student was left spellbound by Prof. Bunsen's visit.
"He demonstrated some amazing facts about chemistry and physics such as the amount of heat water absorbs and how that plays a part in the survival of life," Thai said.
"He showed everybody that water and cotton can create large explosions with the right forces. The most fun thing about the show, apart from large explosions, was the hovercraft.
"Prof Bunsen created a hovercraft that lifted 120 kilograms and was powered by a blower – and I got to ride it."
The visit has further driven Thai's interest in science.
"It was a nice feeling, to sit down on a hard surface and glide effortlessly a few inches off the floor. Overall, I enjoyed the whole event, and want to ride (and) build more hovercrafts," he said.
Big Science Competition
The Big Science Competition is an international competition with three levels of papers based on the Australian school years: Junior (years 7 & 8); Intermediate (years 9 & 10); and Senior (years 11&12). In 2016, 48 766 students registered in the competition.
Congratulations to the following students on achieving the following great results in the Big Science Competition:
High Distinction
Patrick Astudillo, 9M
Distinction
Noah Vancam, 7M
Callum Chandler, 8M
Lucas Crisp, 9M
Annie Hu, 11M
Credit
Jack Walker, 7M
Kyle Dykes, 7M
Ashley Honeybrook, 8M
Connor Korke, 8M
Josh Moylan, 8M
Kayla Stroud, 8M
Kyle Phillips, 8M
Nick Lawrence, 8M
Ann Lu, 9M
Cassandra Hill, 9M
Jamal Elysee, 9M
Jamie Poile, 9M
Steven Stavropoulos 9M
Mabel Soon, 10M
Mason Gregory, 10M
Matthew Burns, 10M
Brian Huynh, 10M
Chamodhi Polwatta, 10M
Home-stay opportunities
Providing homestay accommodation for an international student offers the chance to learn about another culture and build lifelong friendships.
This is an opportunity for you to join other families who are currently hosting international students at Rowville Secondary College. Students are typically aged between 15 and 18 years of age and need accommodation ranging from a few months to up to three years.
In return for accepting a student into your home and family you will be paid a generous weekly amount for your hosting and hospitality.
Student application enquiries are increasing with interest being shown in all of our programs – in particular VCE, Sports Academy golf and cricket, RIA Dance and Drama and MSA.
For further information or to register your interest in this unique opportunity, please all Chris Rodier on 9755 4555 or email rodier.christopher.j@edumail.vic.gov.au
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