Science
Science is a dynamic, collaborative, and creative human endeavour arising from our desire to make sense of our world by exploring the unknown, investigating universal mysteries, making predictions and solving problems. Students in Science can experience the joy of scientific discovery and nurture their natural curiosity about the world around them. In doing this, they will develop critical and creative thinking skills and challenge themselves to identify questions, apply new knowledge, explain science phenomena, and draw evidence-based conclusions using scientific methods.
In Years 7-10, Science is one of the core subjects taken by all students.
In addition to the core subject of Science in Year 7, all students also take part in Project STEM. Year 7 Project STEM aims to provide students with meaningful and globally relevant challenges that empower them to problem solve, think creatively, and learn from one another. The content of each unit has been chosen to complement topics discussed in other STEM curriculum such as Mathematics and Science. Students will be given the opportunity to use their learned skills in other subjects and apply these more critically to real world problems. Students also learn coding as part of these design challenges. As students work through their engineering design challenges, they will have the opportunity to build their problem solving, teamwork, communication, and creative thinking skills. Project STEM in Year 8 will be called Year 8 STEM- Design and Construction and is now core and not an elective at this year level.
Year 9 Rocketry will be introduced in 2025. This subject will cover aerodynamics, flight, and the development and construction of rockets. Students will be build and test their own rockets.
One of the key components of the Digital Technologies elective is to learn about the components of a laptop, and how they work and interact with each other. While our Year 9 students were more than ready to ‘dissect’ the laptops (with some even wearing lab coats for the part) to visualise how the parts of a computer fit together, the challenge for them was to then reassemble the laptops afterwards!
In Year 10, an extensive range of elective subjects catering for a diverse range of talents, ambitions, and interests are available. At Loreto Toorak, we do not offer Unit 1 and 2 electives in our Year 10 program, however the following electives provide a challenging and rigorous platform which emulates VCE skills and prepares students thoroughly for their senior studies:
- Aviation
- Biological Science
- Chemical Science
- Digital Technologies, which is split into two subject – Design & Fabrication and eCommerce & Data Analytics
- Physical Science
- Psychology
Four subjects are offered in VCE – Applied Computing, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.
Years 11 and Year 12 Chemistry
Throughout the academic year, our students will engage in many challenges, competitions, and camps to further their Science education. Students often work on group projects to present at state-wide events and are frequently acknowledged for having achieved much success.
A group of Year 9 students presented on their project, “3D bioprinting”, at the 10th Kids’ Conference Australia 2022. Their presentation at The University of Melbourne shared the history, development, and ethics of 3D bioprinting. A wonderful opportunity for our students to delve into STEM research.
The Bionics Institute Girls in STEM Mentoring Program provided three Loreto Toorak students with the unique opportunity to be mentored by leading female research scientists over a six-month period. Jemima and Clare (Year 10, 2022) focused on Parkinson’s Disease, while Khanh (Year 10, 2022) on Cochlear Implants.
Our annual School Science Week is always a fun extravaganza. Each year we invite fascinating engineers, scientists, and other professionals from various institutes to run workshops that engage our students.