Balmacewen Science and Technology Fair Term 2 2010

No doubt you will have heard about the ‘Science Fair.’ It is a school wide event that has been happening at Balmacewen Intermediate for a number of years now. We are always very successful and a number of students go on to be very successful at the Otago Science and Technology fair each year. It is a great opportunity for students to undertake and inquiry of their own choice.
WHO: All Balmacewen Intermediate students will individually complete a science fair project guided through the process by their classroom teacher/
WHEN: The Science and Technology fair takes place over the course of Term Two. All students complete a project which is due into their classroom teacher for presentation in Week 10, Monday 21st June.
From here all projects will be exhibited in the hall later that week and judged. The best entries will be selected to represent Balmacewen at the Otago Science and Technology fair.
WHERE: Students will carry out science investigations and learn how to put their project together, create graphs and procedural writing techniques in class. They will get some class time to work on their projects and the rest will be made up of homework time for the term.
WHAT IS A SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT?
A science fair project can be an invention, investigation or experimental research. There has also been a change that includes aspects of ICT use as part of an investigation – developing a new programme, animation techniques, Robotics etc.
TIMELINE GUIDELINES
 HOLIDAYS – WEEK 1: It will start with a big question, idea or aim that the student wants to explore. For example: ‘How can I keep the fizz in my fizzy for longer?’ ’ ‘How can I make myself safe on my skateboard coming to school in the mornings?’
 WEEKS 1-3: Next the students will need to research and gather background information around this big idea.
 They will use this information to make a hypothesis or (in the case of an invention) come up with a prototype or plan.
 WEEKS 3 – 7: From here the students need to come up with a plan for how they are going to carry out their experiment, invention or investigation. They need to remember to use a fair test, think about what they are changing and measuring and repeat their testing at least three times for accuracy. (This will be explained fully at school by their classroom teacher)
 The students carry this plan out over the next few weeks and keep a log book and take photos of the process along the way.
 WEEK 8: Next the students put together their results. They may use graphs, tables or written observations.
 WEEK 8-10: They then summarise their results, making reference to their hypothesis.
 They will be given details and explanations at school as to how they must present their inquiry onto a display board. Samples of previous projects will be on display in the library and parents are also welcome to come in and look at these for ideas. (Pictures of these may also be on some class blog pages.) The display boards are available from the school library for $10. The rest of the information goes into their log book/clear file which will be kept with the display board for the judge’s reference.
The GUIDELINES used here are approximate and may change slightly.
We will have a lot of discussion and sharing of ideas in class and there will be notices coming home with additional information. But this gives you a basic run down to help you get your head around it all. If you have further questions please feel free to get in touch with me.

Science Fair

Kaja & Elizabeth - Norway

Today and last Friday we have had Kaja's friend Elizabeth here at Balmac visiting while she is in New Zealand on Holiday wiht her family. Today Kaja and Elizabeth shared an interesting slide show of photos and told us all about life in Norway and some of the things they enjoy doing there. Below are a few pics of them playing Hand ball which is the 2nd most popular sport children play in Norway. Thanks girls it was great hearing and seeing about your wonderful country

Week 8 Assembly Award - Hannah Bremner

Well odne to Hannah for receiving this weeks assembly award for "A hardworking and positive approach to everything that she does"

Well done Hannah!!

Asking Good Questions...

It has been great to see some of the fantastic questions everyone has been coming up with after our lessions on "Asking Good Questions" The questions that students have now written are going to be used to interview a Grandparent or someone form a generation before their parents. The interview questions will be based around "What it was like growing up and childhood compared to the way we have it now" giving the students some information and hopefully opening up an understanding of some of the changes and similarities as our world has changed over time and the way they are shaped by their past. Studnets will be starting their interviews from tonight and need to have the interview completed by Monday 29th so we can organise reporting on these...good luck...

Swimming Sports

A big well done to everyone who competed in the school swimming sports this morning at Moana Pool. It was great to see everyone giving it their best in all races. We had some successes in trhe finals with 3 students getting placing in their finals, an extra special well done to those who are listed below.

Austin Clarke - 3rd 25m Backstroke
Samuel Wardhaugh - 3rd 50m Backstroke & Free style, 2nd 50m Braststroke
Brianna Thomson - 3rd 50m Feestyle & Backstroke.

Asking Good Questions????

As part of out topic work this term students will be carrying out interviews on a grandparent or someone from a couple of generations before them. As part of this interview preparation students will need to come up with some suitable questions that will see them get the best information and answers from the people they interview.

HOMEWORK for tonight is to come up with 5 interview questions to ask me(Mr Sloan) on Thursday afternoon (Yes tomorrow!! 18th March) about my childhood. This will be a practise and also a challenge to see who can get the most information out of me in just 5 questions.

Today we have talked about asking good questions and the difference between open ended questions and ones that just give a closed answer of "yes' or "no"
I look forward to hearing all of te good questioning techniques!

Week 6 Assembly Award - Georgia

Well done to Georgia for receiving the Assembly award this week for "Always putting an extra effort into all that you do"

Georgia - My Great Great Grandad....

I was asking my Grandmother about my homework on NZ Identity and history and she pulled out this big book about our family. In the book there were the original tickets and receipts for the ship "Margaret Galbraith" which my Great Great Grandad Philip Milburn and his family came to New Zealand on in 1879. My Great Great Grandad Philip was 5 years old when he came on the boat to Otago NZ. These tickets and receipts are very old and brittle - Mum was able to copy them for me to bring to school to share. My Great Great Grandad - had an article written about their journey here which I have read and it sounded pretty breathtaking! I feel very lucky to have seen and heard about these. The photo shows me with the photo copies of the ticket, receipt and article about the trip. Below is a copy of these for people to have a look at.

Georgia Ticket

Settlers Museum Photos

Check out some of the cool photos of us all dressed up as earl settlers during our trip ot the Otago Settlers Museum in the slideshow below

Week 5 Assembly Awards

A big well done to Samuel and Couper for receiving Principal's awards in Assembly for their efforts and work on their photo story of camp.

Gemma Clydesdale Camp Photo Story

Jame Grigg Camp Photostory

Samuel & Couper's Camp Photo Story

We have made up a video clip of some of our camp experiences, sit back and enjoy, Samuel & Couper
(just click the play button, it may take a minute to buffer before playing)

NZ Identity & Kiwiana...

Check out the clips below - What makes NZ a special place to live? What do the adverts show the viewer about New Zealand as a place to be and live and the things we do and enjoy? Leave your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Camp Survey

Thanks to those who have completed the camp survey, for those who haven't had a look at it yet the link to it is below, it would be great to get the last few of these completed asap.

Click here to take our Online Survey

A selection of camp photos...