subject: Students' research impressing the schools [print this page] With Students spending hours every month on the Internet doing research for school projects, it's important to know how to separate the good from the bad. If they do experiments themselves, they have to go beyond what they learn. For instance, during a lesson on the boiling point of water, they set up a beaker of water over a bunsen burner to measure the temperature when it boils. It's 100 deg C? The teacher then asks if the boiling point will go even higher if more burners are placed under the beaker. The students discover that the boiling point of water is fixed. This experiments help to bring science concepts to life for the students. Beside, to get them curious about the environment and the world around them, many lessons also happen outdoors. Students are taken on visits to nature parks and hydroponics and fish farms and they are later able to relate what they have seen with what they are learning in science. Teachers encourage them to ask questions to find out how things work, and this also helps them become creative and self-confident individuals.
The schools believes in teaching science through activities, outside the classroom. That means day trips to the Zoo to observe animals life and to Bondi beach to learn about the seashore environment. Students spend at least an hour a week conducting experiments in the lab, honing their investigative and analytical skills. One day each year is designated Investigation Day for all upper primary students to showcase their experiments. Our aim is to give every student a top-rate education. Therefore teachers emphasis is on the quality of all our schools, and not just a few elite schools. The goal is to teach students how to think, to be creative in problem solving, and to keep on absorbing new knowledge and skills all their life, rather than to squeeze more facts and data into an already full curriculum. Teachers acknowledge that not every student has the same ability and talent. So teachers are creating diverse and flexible options for students to choose a path which suits them, instead of trying to cast everyone within a few moulds.
