All year round, Science at Blacktown Boys High School is busy exploring the world around us. Here are just a few of the excursions we have been on:
Maritime museum excursion
Year 8 enjoyed an exciting trip to the National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, as part of a research project between the museum, CSIRO and Intoscience. It was a spectacular day spent on the boats on the harbour, with fascinating discussions around the scientific and historical features of the Endeavour replica and HMAS Vampire destroyer.
IMAX
Year 9 enjoyed a trip to the IMAX cinema, Darling Harbour, where they enjoyed a 3D documentary on the research currently in astronomy.
Snake tails incursion
For stage 4 and year 11 biology students, we had an engaging presentation on native reptiles, from Snake Tails, last term, complementing the work completed in their science classes. Students enjoyed getting up close and personal with some unique Australians.
Biology research field trip
As part of the Preliminary Biology course, Year 11 conducted a research field trip at Penrith Lakes.
We completed field work exercises to improve our skills at measuring the abundance and distribution of various species in an ecosystem through the use of quadrats and transects. Upon arriving at Penrith lakes, we were welcomed by two experienced instructors who guided us throughout the events of the day. Our fieldwork was based around working at two main sites (big pond and small pond) where we worked with various scientific instruments and concepts to gather information for our subsequent assessment task that followed.
After a fun day of investigating abiotic and biotic factors of the ecosystem we ended the day with a summary session where we discussed the information gathered and related them to biological concepts. Overall the experience was highly beneficial but also incredible one.
