Congratulations to Brenton Bealing who has been selected to represent Western Australia in the 2018 Swimming Team. Brenton will be competing at the School Sport Australia National Championships in Hobart, Tasmania.

Over the past week our Year 12 Human Biology students have had the opportunity to visit the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research as part of the Biotechnology section of the course.

The day started with students completing an activity simulating the process called “Polymerase Chain Reaction” – which is when multiple copies of DNA can be produced from the smallest sample.

It was then off to a fully functional laboratory to prepare some DNA for a process called “Gel Electrphoresis” – used in identifying different DNA samples, and finally students were taken on a grand tour of the magnificent facility and shown many of the important medical research that is performed at the Harry Perkins Institute.

Robert Neumann - Science Teacher

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During a lesson in week 4, Miss Kim’s Year 9 class conducted their third lesson on Soil Science, where they ran soil moisture tests on the samples they had collected from Wireless Hill in Term One. Students worked in their groups through sets of activities, with an exciting booklet filled with probing questions to make them think.

The goal of the first activity was to choose a suitable piece of equipment to match the accurately measure the masses of soil samples. From a choice of: bathroom scale, top loading balance and a spring balance, students discussed the limit of reading and uncertainty of measurements of each to make their decision.

The second activity began with the students opening their bags of soil and filtering out the large particles, using sieves and trays. The filtered soil was then used to make the mass measurements, where students were given some time to discuss the importance of increasing reliability of results through replication. The triplicate samples of the soil that students weighed out were then placed in an oven at 105 °C overnight. On the following day, students then reweighed the samples to calculate how much water had evaporated overnight, and hence the moisture content of their original soil.

Students were also given the opportunity to  compare the soil moisture content of those from Wireless Hill, with the samples they had brought from their gardens at home. The results certainly made some students proud of the moist conditions of their own soil from home!

Miss Ji Hae Kim (Science Teacher)

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