There’s chemistry between students and science

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Year 8 students Cooper Richards and Seth Cahoon using compound microscopes. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Energetic students bounded into the science lab, laughing and chatting as they found their seats at the communal benches.

They turn to the front of the room, eyeing a screen where their teacher has posed the topic of that day’s class: the Earth’s composition, also known as the lithosphere.

These days, science classes at ACE Secondary College leave no stone unturned, whether sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous.

Clad in lab coats and goggles, the students got to work examining minerals and rocks at a cellular level using compound microscopes, unearthing the fascinating truth that not all rocks share the same genesis.

For example, igneous rocks have emerged from the fiery molten core of the earth, whereas metamorphic rocks are shaped by the relentless forces of time and pressure.

Some students were enthusiastic, others bewildered.

Both emotions are common in the lab, regardless of the subject.

Why?

Because with each class, the chemistry between students and their passion for science deepens.

– Taylah Baker

Year 8 student Harper Gray studies the textures of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Photo by Rechelle Zammit