This year has seen the consolidation of the Year 8 Science Enrichment Program for highly-abled students, albeit in slightly different circumstances. Delivered online due to COVID restrictions, selected students in Year 8 have had the opportunity to work with Dr Stephen Goodall via zoom and explored a variety of areas of Science including the structure and function of the mitochondria in cells. While this is touched on in a usual year 8 science class, students also had the opportunity to contribute to some citizen science via Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org). What is Zooniverse?

‘The Zooniverse enables everyone to take part in real cutting-edge research in many fields across the sciences, humanities, and more. The Zooniverse creates opportunities for you to unlock answers and contribute to real discoveries’.

This enables students to contribute to ongoing scientific research, in this case, identifying mitochondria in electron microscope images to assist research into cell changes associated with health and disease.

Vibrant discussions were held throughout the enrichment session. There was also a high level of student engagement throughout the session and their general responses were articulate and impressive.

I hope the Year 8 Science Enrichment students find the program a worthwhile and stimulating experience which adds to their scientific knowledge. Further enrichment sessions will be held during Term 4.

Mr Ashley Payne

Learning Leader – Academic Enrichment and Data