At Marian College, the Science Faculty aims to offer a curriculum which develops scientific understanding, inquiry and provides a real-life context to the content covered in class.
We strive to connect students to exciting incursions and excursions as well as link them to important science facilities in the Grampians area, such as Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) researching dark matter, Future mining at Caroll’s Copper mine deposit between Ararat and Moyston, career paths at Grampians Health Service and immune cell research at Federation University.
We provide extracurricular activities such as Girls in STEM, Boys in STEM, the Peter Doherty Science award, the Big Science Competition and the Science and Engineering Challenge in Ballarat to enhance critical thinking skills and scientific literacy and communication. Our focus in this area is to provide even more opportunity with local experts visiting the school and making tangible connections to where this may take them in future.
Our earth sciences look at issues relating to our current global issues, such as global warming and how we can find ways to conserve energy. We work towards developing students that may help solve global challenges for future generations. Our students understand the difference between sustainability and renewability and put both into practice, challenging students to find suitable resources to build our future.
Our biological sciences look at all levels of hierarchy, from the interaction between organisms in Year 7, to DNA in Year 10. Students also learn about different body systems, diseases and coordinating responses to regulate our bodies. Biology at Marian helps students to understand more about themselves in a physical sense, which complements the work done in other curriculum areas, which help give them identity and faith.
Our Chemical sciences aim to have students understand the world around them from an atomic level, understanding how particles interact with each other, from a way to explain states of matter to showing different reaction types. The overall goal for our chemical side is to complement the earth sciences and look at dwindling earth resources and how pollution affects our environment.
Our physical sciences aim to help students become more aware of how energy is used in our homes in a physical sense and have students research the costs and benefits of coal, wind, gas, hydro, solar and nuclear energies. It also provides detail as to how light and sound works and how objects move.
Lastly, Our Space sciences aim to have students understand natural phenomena that are affected by the sun and moon before looking at the cost and benefits of travelling to other planets. They also learn about the galaxy and universe.
These sciences are tied to scientific inquiry to promote a deeper understanding of the content that is learned in class. We aim to have a strong focus on literacy to better equip students with communication skills that they will use in future careers.
