The 3 Little Pigs

The 3 Little Pigs…was the brick house really the strongest?

Throughout Term Two, the students in Pre-Primary have been using their senses to explore, identify and compare the properties of a variety of materials around the school grounds. To further build upon these experiences, the students read the story of The 3 Little Pigs and explored the materials that each little pig had chosen to build its house…a house of straw, a house of sticks and a house of bricks. The students were given the challenge to find out if the brick house was really the strongest out of the three houses. 

The students used their science skills to come up with a plan to find the materials needed to build the three houses. Together they collected straw from the Garden of Weedin, sticks from the Nature Play Area and bricks from the Tinker Space. In groups they explored and described the property of each of the materials and designed and built the 3 Little Pig’s houses. 

With a visit from the Big Bad Wolf and a fan of strong fresh air, the houses were tested…and just like the students had predicted the house of bricks was definitely the strongest because ‘bricks are heavy and strong, rectangular which means you can stack them and there are no gaps in between them for the wind to blow them down.’

Connecting Joondalup Primary School to Life changing Science.

In the Science Laboratory throughout Term Two, students from Room 10 and Room 11 have been involved in a variety scientific investigations that have explored the molecular structure of solids, liquids and gases through the manipulation of materials. As part of building real life experiences beyond the laboratory, an hour skype call was held with Biophysicist, Dr Donna Whelan from La Trobe University on Wednesday 5 July.

Dr Donna Whelan is a Bruce Stone Fellow in Chemical Biology based in Bendigo as a part of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. She is currently building a new, next-generation single molecule microscope, and exploring DNA damage and repair pathways. Her collaborations include research into the underlying mechanisms of host-virus interactions, neurodegeneration, and proteolysis.

Prior to starting her own lab in Bendigo, Donna completed her PhD at Monash University, developing advanced microscopic and spectroscopic techniques for applications in biophysical research. During her PhD she constructed cutting-edge single molecule super-resolution microscopes and made extensive use of the Australian Synchrotron. Following this, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in New York University’s School of Medicine under the supervision of Dr Eli Rothenberg, focusing on applying super resolution imaging to map the cellular repair pathway of DNA double strand breaks.

Dr Donna Whelan and the microsope

Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN

Donna took students on her scientific journey from birth right to her current position at La Trobe University where she has built a highly specialised microscope that is 1000 times more powerful than a regular fluorescence microscope – assisting into her research into fundamental biology, and DNA damaging diseases such as cancer.

As a result of this amazing opportunity, the JPS scientists have witnessed how important science is in our future and how they too can become life changing scientists

Nerelle Phillips

Science Teacher