Science News

Science Extension Success

On Lunchtime of Friday 9 September the Year 12 Science Extension students presented their long term projects to the students and teacher on a wonderful session held in the School Library. The six students, Clare Crawford, Emily Feller, Olivia Jarvie,  Dakota Kedzier-Hurst, Jemimah O’Brien and India Poiner had an amazing diversity of projects that they have each been researching over the year.

The Year 12 Science Extension course is a fantastic way for Year 12 students to engage with scientific project work on their chosen topic and get to explore different methodologies that best test their scientific ideas. The poster presentations of their work will be on display in the Joan Freeman Building.

Marlise Kalt
Science Teacher

Science Medals!

Two teams of Year 12 Chemistry students have “dropped the base” and risen to fame at the National Titration Competition held at UNSW on Saturday 10 September.

Titration is a technique used by chemists to determine the exact concentration of a chemical solution. Year 12 students study this technique for determining acid and base concentrations in the HSC Course, and the competition provides an excellent opportunity to practise analytical techniques in the laboratory. As the concentration of one of the solutions is known, we can use a chemical reaction between this and the unknown solution, in the presence of a coloured indicator, to determine its concentration. Students must practise specific rinsing techniques and use analytical glassware appropriately to find out the most accurate concentration.

After great success at the NSW competition in Term 2, two of our 8 SCEGGS teams were invited to the second round – the National Competition, in which the procedure’s complexity is increased.

Big congratulations to Julia Inglis, Dakota Kedzier-Hurst, Maya Barnett, Olivia Jarvie, Renee Ayoub and Olivia Chu who received silver medals on the day. These medals are awarded to individuals within teams who determined the unknown concentration to a high level of accuracy. Well done!

Alison Johnson
Science Teacher