Science

Why study Science?

Science reveals the handiwork of God.

Year 9 and 10 Science

A foundation is being laid in Years 9 and 10. The broad areas are:

The Physical World (heat, mechanics and electricity)
The Material World (atoms, molecules and reactions)
The Living World (ecology, cells, plants and animals)
The Experimental Method

These lead on to Physics, Chemistry and Biology in Year 12, Level 2 of NCEA.

The courses have used the format provided by the Pathfinder series. These are published for New Zealand curriculum, have an attractive format, supplementary homework books and build on each other year by year.

Year 9 Science News

Tip Top Field Trip

On Wednesday 20th October our Year 9 Science class visited the Tip Top factory in Mount Wellington. Mrs Mathew, Mrs Clague and some parents came along as supervisors. Our tour guide was Mrs Paula Dulihanty who did a fantastic job showing us around. We were shown the entire ice cream manufacturing process from the milk tankers arriving, to the pasteurisation and homogenisation of the liquid ice cream mix, from the aging of the ice cream mix to the actual blending of flavours right through to the packaging and storage of the product. Of course at the end of the tour we all got a chance to try a Tip Top product, which was appreciated by all. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of the manufacturing process (Tip Top secrets I guess?). But we did manage to get some great photos of Hebron students outside the factory.

Interesting facts we learnt
A cow produces 2500 - 3000 litres of milk per year. 20 - 30 000 litres of milk per day are required to make Tip Top ice cream. This equates to about 44 million litres per year. During pasteurisation the liquid ice cream mix is heated to 87°C, and then cooled to 4°C in 20 seconds to kill bacteria. The final product is stored in a huge supermarket sized freezer at -28°C. Even with thermal clothing, freezer workers are only allowed to spend 20 min at a time in the freezer.

Year 11 Science

Science - Level 1 NCEA - Course Outline - 2010

Introduction

Level 1 NCEA Science is a mixture if Internal and External assessment. The internal assessment takes place in school. The external assessment will take place in a three-hour external examination at the end of the year. Our work during the year is aimed to prepare you as well as we possibly can to succeed in both areas.

What will be assessed

The achievement standards we will be studying are as follows: AS Title Content Assessment Number of Credits AS 90186 Carry out a practical science investigation with direction Planning and doing an experiment Internal 4 AS 90188 Describe the aspects of biology Reproduction, gametes, inheritance Helpful and harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses Describe how humans use and are effected by micro- organisms External 5 AS 90189 Describe the aspects of Chemistry Atoms, chemical reactions, metals, acids and bases, salts, oxides Recognise patterns in behaviour and properties of groups of related substances External 5 AS 90191 Describe the aspects of Physics Velocity, acceleration, forces, energy, voltage, current, series and parallel circuits Demonstrate an understanding of motion, energy and electrical systems External 5 Total Credits 19

TICKER TIMER PRACTICAL DONE BY THE YEAR 11 STUDENTS

Click here to view the YEAR 11 STUDENTS DOING A CHEMISTRY PRACTICAL
Click here to view YEAR 11 STUDENTS DOING AN ELECTRICITY PRACTICAL

In 2010 we began using Bestchoice. BestChoice is an interactive educational web site that supports NCEA Level 1, Describe aspects of chemistry. Bestchoice is a New Zealand website that is used by high school and university students around the world. The features of BestChoice are: there are 100 modules available, there are also 8000 possibilities for interacting with the system, it engages and interacts with students learning by requiring input from them and students receive immediate instructive feedback, answers entered are stored and available on subsequent log-ins.
Teachers can also monitor each students progress through a module, to check their understanding of the topic. BestChoice complements learning from teachers, textbooks and practicals.


Here are some examples of the feedback Bestchoice received recently.

Great looking layout and easier to use/navigate than previous version. The University of Auckland - North Shore, 9 Aug 2010

This reinforced the ideas I learned in class, It was very good The University of Auckland - Auckland, 8 Aug 2010

Awesome. Great help. Now I know what to work on NZ High School, 6 Aug 2010

I really liked this topic it was very helpful :) NZ High School - Auckland, 6 Aug 2010

It was helpful repeating many similar questions as i can now remember exactly what to do and how to identify things quickly The University of Auckland - Auckland, 5 Aug 2010