Ever wondered about what makes rainbows or where the dinosaurs went or….? Curiosity about the world we live in is something that we never lose even as we get answers to our initial childhood questions.
Ficino School’s science curriculum channels the awe and wonder we all possessed as young children into the chance to conduct investigations and experiments as our students get older. It’s been all about science for our senior students this term with Years 5 – 8 submitting a science investigation for display and judging at school. Years 7 & 8 had the opportunity to submit a technology design project if they wished.
Science investigations allow students to try to find the answer to a question they have about the world. Questions were both varied and creative – Will the colour of food affect our appetite? Does the use of LED lights on plants affect their growth? How does glass shatter? How much Vitamin C is really in oranges?
Having developed a hypothesis in which they predicted answers to their question, students set off on a 4-week science adventure to test their predictions! Along the way, they conducted several experiments, tracking and analyzing results in a log book. Final results, answers and conclusions were communicated on a display board.
Parents, staff and judges were privileged to be able to look at the world through the eyes of a child. The students discussed their investigations with enthusiasm and confidence – their ability to communicate in this manner is one that they have many opportunities to develop in their time at Ficino School.
Ficino School was lucky enough to have Science educator Ian Milne judging their entries.
Winners of the Ficino School Science competition were invited to submit their entries to the NIWA Auckland City Science and Technology Fair.
Congratulations to Agam Khanna and Yixiong Hao whose investigation on “How Glass Shatters” received a Highly Commended prize in a field of several hundred competitors.
