The Fort Issue 01 | Page 7

The 11th and 12th Environmental Systems and Societies students attended a Food Security and Privilege Conference on October 16, 2018. They stood shoulder to shoulder with university students, professors, and professionals. They engaged in discussions about the problems and potential solutions for several of the United Nations sustainable development goals. Rasul, Sam, Firas, Jessica, Luyao (Catherine), and Natascha participated in workshops designed to focus deeply on these different goals. Natascha was then asked to present for her workshop group and gave a stirring, skilled speech concerning these global and pressing issues.

|6|

Science Box

Environmental systems & societies

Ms. Michaela Barnhart

Year 12 Chemistry students have been applying their scientific knowledge from Year 11 and Year 12 to investigate and prepare their own Esters. This is a reaction between a Carboxylic acid and an alcohol. It was a “SMELLY” lesson, but thankfully most were sweet smelling, demonstrating why they are used in the perfume and flavour industry. However, a few were more “sweat like” smelling, reflecting where certain biological odours come from. It was a fun but very educational lesson, with the students then having to write the formula and structure of all those esters that they created.

CHEMISTRY

Ms. Sarah Shuttleworth

SCIENCE EXPLORATION

Ms. Ann Marie Cassar Torreggiani

Our Grade 6 students are gradually being introduced to the fun of science investigations. The most important component of the Middle School Science curriculum is for students to learn skills that they can use not only in Middle School but also in the future. The first few lessons in Science involve learning how to work in a lab and outside it, as well as using different instruments to measure various quantities..In the beginning of the year, sixth graders were getting to grips with apparatus like a measuring cylinders whereas some of these skills were being used at the same time by High School students. Twelfth graders know how to use these instruments, but they are now having to decide which instruments they must use to solve a problem. For example, a group of students was asked to figure out how they could measure the speed of sound in the most accurate way. In other words, they have to apply previously learnt knowledge to help them answer a question or investigate a new situation.