CREST

Students have been showing great enthusiasm in their projects and are working hard to complete them by the end of the school year. The projects this year are very innovative, including a challenging tempering chocolate investigation, making quality moka pot coffee with a budget grinder, DNA technology manipulating genes involved in cell division, antibacterial effectiveness of orchid petals, using mango seed and husks for eco-packaging, the hunt for orchid viruses, 3D printing pots for plants, and using Arduino microcontroller technology for agricultural use.

Many students have been coming in during their lunch-times and holidays to get the work done, and teachers have been actively enforcing report deadlines and supporting the students, which is wonderful to see!

Science Teachers Association of Victoria (STAV) Science Talent Search (STS) 2018 Competition Presentation Day

Three Eastmeadows CREST students won STAV STS competition bursary prizes, totalling $390. I was lucky to judge competition entries from other Victorian schools, and the quality of research was amazing! The students as well as Mr Cicek attended the presentation day at Latrobe University. It was an exciting day with projects, models and inventions being showcased from schools all over Victoria.

Here are the Sirius College winners:

Junior Experimental Research Division

• Major Bursary Award ($110), awarded to Sara Saleh (Year 8) for her project titled: The effect of different chicken laying environments on protein contents of Australian eggs.
• Minor Bursary Award ($70), awarded to Nida Ahsan (Year 8) for her project titled: Using Nespresso pods to fertilize the soil of wheatgrass and help it grow faster.

Intermediate Experimental Research Division

• Major Bursary Award ($210), awarded to Ealaf Al Hassani (Year 10) for her project titled: Investigation of steam pressure-treating Australian sugarcane mulch to improve the clean-up of oil spills.
• Sarah’s and Ealaf’s projects have been selected for entry into the BHP Billiton Science and Engineering National Competition, and winners will be announced in early 2019.
• Congratulations to all our CREST girls who entered - we’re very proud of you!

Moving forward - CREST in 2019

Those who wish to undertake Silver or Gold level projects in 2019, please see me for proposal forms, so students can get a head-start, thinking about project ideas.

Remember, you will need to provide your own laptop (or similar) to bring to CREST classes to write your report (and hopefully create an overseas competition poster!)

Google Science Fair Competition 2018

Google Science Fair 2018 is back online after a two year hiatus. ALL completed CREST projects are eligible to be entered for free, and all you need is your Gmail account. Please enter at the link below and see me if you need help.