The Senior School have had an exciting Semester One of science learning about light and space. They enter the science room each week eagerly anticipating their next opportunity to blast off to a galaxy far, far away.
In Term 1, students were treated to in depth knowledge of the way light travels, refracts, and reflects to make visible the wonderful world around us. Experiments such as using items to bend light, reverse images through water and create rainbows made for exciting hands-on learning.
This meaningful knowledge was then related to the light from the Sun on our journey through space. Students carefully observed models of the Sun and Earth, noticing it was the Earth that orbited around the Sun and not vice versa! Our future scientists delved deeper and engaged with how Earth’s distance and tilt, compared to the sun, also changed the temperature and seasons.
Our astute ākonga also explored the interconnected Māori interpretations of celestial bodies through studying how to utilise the stars as a navigational tool. The starstruck boys and girls made their own physical map of the stars and discovered which parts of the constellations were most visible at particular times of the year. With a tangible example, it was easy to see why Matariki might not be visible in June, when the Earth is the furthest in its yearly orbit from the Taurus constellation (which contains the whetū of Matariki).
As our deep dive into the way light works comes to its conclusion, we know that our studious Jedis have learnt more than enough to prevent them from venturing onto the dark side…
