Science class began with a computer dissection as they explored the Big Idea Belief. Year 8 was excited to indulge their curiosity as they took apart common tech items such as an ipad or cell phone. Learners got to identify the various components in the internal circuitry and learned a bit about what each component does.
0 Comments
Year 8 students have been participating in basketball during PE time over the course of our first learning block. They have been working hard to improve their skill level and build on what they learned last year. They are also improving their knowledge of the rules of the game and beginning to develop their understanding of attacking and defending strategies. As many Year 8 students are members of the school basketball teams they have had lots of opportunities to put what they have learned into practice during games.
Year 8 learners were amazing in Monday's Entry Point for their enthusiasm and participation throughout the day's activities. They were challenged to explore ideas and issues around integrity, honesty and values in social media. They analyzed ways in which real-life online celebrities have gained or suffered as a result of their online behaviour. The learners created their own mock online persona in order to explore issues of this more personally and consider more deeply the results of individual actions. Year 8 learners are now ready to engage even further in these concepts through their subject learning in the upcoming Belief unit. Year 8s have started their unit on the molecular structure of atoms and the periodic table. They worked in groups and created an audition tape for a survivor island themed television program. They had to audition as an element from the periodic table and discuss why their properties made them a worthy choice for being on the island. For example, the Tungsten contestant explained in their video that because of their high melting point of 3422oC, they could handle the heat of being on the island.
Exploring relationships between measurable variables has Year 8 thinking really hard in maths this unit. They are making connections between their previous work with straight line graphs and gradients, as well as their recent data handling unit. This week they have been thinking about speed as a compound measure, which is affected by distance and time. They have had to be very resilient to solve problems related to speed and think about how to deal with time not being a decimal. They have explored calculator and non-calculator methods for this. Finally they had to be very cooperative when solving the speed mystery – when did the four friends set off to arrive in Phnom Penh at the same time and how did they get there?
Year 8 have just started a video project. They are learning how to use different apps such as iMovie, KeyNote and YouTube to create a short video/vlog with a Cambodian theme. Since our last update Year 8 tried coding in Python, learning about syntax errors, indentation and file names, along with testing and debugging. They have also been continuing to improve their knowledge on staying safe online and on how to be a better digital citizen by completing the online learning platform DQ World. Finally, Year 7 learners have been updating their digital portfolios.
Middle Years learners had a chance to display their science skills by designing experiments and collecting data to answer questions they were curious about. Some of the creative questions the learners come up with and explored included:
It was great to see the Middle Years Learners interacting with primary learners and demonstrating their projects in exciting ways. It was a fantastic to see how well many learners could articulate their findings to the primary learners and the learning facilitators. An exciting conclusion to the research the learners had been conducting for the past month. On Monday the Year 8s visited Koh Oukhna Tei to learn about how silk is made from silkworms. The journey there was eventful, comprising of a coach, boat, then a tuktuk ride to the Silk Farm. The learners were able to practise spinning silk yarns together after learning how the silk comes from the lava of the caterpillars. Every stage of the process is needed for the end result to happen. This was a fascinating start to the Relationship unit.
Year 8 are building on the foundations that they made last year in volleyball and focusing on building a three hit attack. In order to do this they have been developing their communication and interaction with their team mates. The confidence to take responsibility within the team is growing and some learners are progressing to overarm serving. Year 8 have a full range of opportunities for more personalised learning with some learners consolidating their setting and digging while others are focusing on the roles of different positions.
|
Archives
October 2018
Categories |