IN 2 UNI Term 2 2014 year 8
Recently, students in Year 8 that are part of the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) program have been working hard in D2 as part of this year’s IN2UNI program.
For Year 8, IN2UNI runs over a 10 week period with an hour per week being dedicated to providing students with a taste of what it is like to study university projects whilst at school, while also introducing them to higher-level challenges.
In this particular project, students are tasked with the challenge of building a water filter that will be used to filter dirty water in third world countries such as Cambodia. On the road to accomplishing this goal, the students have been learning basic concepts in engineering, physics and chemistry.
When I visited the classroom I was amazed by the energy and optimism that the students possessed. They all seemed very interested in what was being taught and they were readily available when I began to ask them questions about their work.
One student in particular, Zach Klapsis, was very informative, and readily told me about the various practical activities they had done, as well as the experiences he had. “It’s really fun” he commented. When asked if they did any sort of group work he commented saying “Yes, we were put into groups at the start of the program.” He has stated that this group work approach has allowed him to work with people he isn’t familiar with or he doesn’t know. He also commented on how this program has inspired him to continue learning more about engineering, and expressed his desire to perhaps make it his future job.
Whatever the case, the IN2UNI program is a great example of the initiative and hard-working morals that our school is known for. I was deeply honoured to see for myself what our school has to offer, and I look forward to future programs that our GATE program has in store.
Mitchell deRoo year 9
scroll down to view the photos and powerpoint presentations of each group's research.