Have you ever wondered if the most expensive choc-chip biscuits have the most amount of chocolate chips? Or maybe you have wondered how forensic scientists can read a crime science just by analysing blood spatters? Then you would probably love to be in Science this term!

Students are encouraged in Science to vigorously test their hypotheses using the Scientific Method. Not all science investigations are experimental designs. Sometimes, like with the choc-chip biscuits, we are trying to find out if there is a relationship between two variables. We call this a correlational investigation. On the other hand, we also love to learn new techniques to use in science investigations. In Year 9 Science Extension students have been learning different forensic science techniques such as fingerprinting and paper chromatography.

So what are some scientific conclusions that have we come up with in Term 1? The Year 11 Psychology students found that there is no statistically significant correlation between how many chocolate chips are in a biscuit, and the price per biscuit. That’s good news for our grocery shopping! And the Year 9 Science Extension students learnt that fake blood dropped from different heights, impacting at different angles, and travelling at different velocities make very distinctive shapes and patterns. We now have a new appreciation of the skillset and knowledge of forensic scientists.

Stay curious,
The Science Department