It was great to see the students in Mr Newton’s Year 9 science class ask and answer so many questions as part of a science experiment demonstration earlier this week.

As the purple die in the water was heated by a solitary candle it slowly moved around the glass apparatus, starting at the bottom and slowly rising and falling around the tube; it was quite powerful to see.

Mr Newton used direct questioning to tease out prior understanding and build on the students’ knowledge, praising some of the students for how well they were applying their learning.

Students then returned to their seats to draw and label a diagram to summarise what they had observed – convection currents caused by heat and cooling which engineers and scientists use in so many real world applications.

It was really good to see students seeing science up close and first hand as I know those memorable moments help to cement our understanding within our ever increasing knowledge base.