Every year, right at the beginning of the school year we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This year, this occurred on Friday 10 February, which was followed up by International Women’s Day on Wednesday 8 March. In fact, every day at OLMC is a day of women and girls in Science and STEM. We strive to make Science fun and interesting and accessible for all students from Year 7 to Unit 4 in VCE Sciences.
Currently around 28% of the Science and STEM workforces is female. That seems concerning but it shows a big gain from the 8% of 50 years ago. Women and diverse workers are necessary to make sure science, policy, science communication, engineering solutions and research are designed and implemented to ensure best outcomes across our entire populations. We want to continue to promote to our students the rewarding and high impact STEM workforce pathways; to ensure all our young women have access to possibilities and opportunities and to ensure the future resilience of Australia.
In the labs, since the start of the year we have been working on hands-on learning experiences that captivate and challenge while building confidence and knowledge. Even our demonstrations are designed to make students see, think and wonder.
Our Year 7s have been getting orientated in laboratories and using some fundamental chemistry principles to separate mixtures. Our Year 8s have been learning about digestive systems and are moving on to learning about other body systems in coming weeks. Classes have been using our new structured logbooks to enhance their science communication skills and better reflect on practical learning. Year 9s are also looking at body systems, exploring the mechanisms of homeostasis and Year 10s have been learning about genetics and inheritance and are soon to start on an exploration of bioethics.
Susan Long
Science Learning Leader
