There have been lots of great things happening across the Science Faculty this year, with students succeeding well, both in school and out of school. Some highlights are:

In Term two we had eight teams (2 senior and 6 junior) of four students compete in the Epro8 challenge heats at Shirley Boy’s and Hillmorton High School, using various equipment to design and build a machine which fulfilled the requirements of the selected challenges. Using their knowledge of Science, Mathematics, Electronics and problem solving skills, they tackled the challenges with valor and wit. Five of the teams made it through to the grand finals, where they were hosted at Holmes Solution and got a tour of the unique Engineering facilities. Team of William Li Chen, Elissa Piao, Aleck Li, and Rohan Gala, tied for first place in this. All students involved were: Basel Abdulaal, William Li Chen, Isaac Choi, Ida Clausen, William Cochrane, Jacob Craw, Johnny Creighton, Robbie de Groot-Tsuji, Victoria Ding, Oscar Evans, Rohan Gala, Alex Gibson, Ajax Guo, Iru Han, Charlie Helmore, Yifeng Huang, Isolde Johnson, Isaac Latimer, Aleck Li, Eason Li, Sophia Li, Ben Lough, Zac Newman, Elissa Piao, Robert Rider, Sree Vivek Nair, Ethan Wong, Andrew Wu, Leyan Wu, Mike Ye, Miranda Yuan, and Ryan Zhang.

Six Year 10 Māori students, Kei Milner, Xavier Te Tai, DJ McLeod (10STNZ), Meika Craig, Taylor Smith (10SGCT) and Olly Upjohn (10NSMG) were selected to participate in the project, He Puna Pūtaiao in Term Four of 2023. This project is in collaboration with the University of Canterbury (UC) and involved the students spending six days at UC carrying out an investigation into the water quality of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere). The students did background research before going to Te Waihora to collect samples to analyse back at UC. They have completed the sessions at UC and summarised their findings in a University level poster display, well done!

Our Year 11 Extension Science students went to the University of Canterbury as part of their study of Radioactivity and Models of the atom. There they conducted experiments looking at the activity of different Radioactive sources and half-life. The other part of the day was spent interacting with resources from Rutherford’s Den around the history of the atom before getting a tour of the Physical and Chemical Sciences building to look at applications of Physics.

Congratulations goes to Eleana Siwatibau who received a place on Discoverycamp 2024, organised by the MacDiarmid Institute. This is a highly contested Science camp as they only take 20 students from across New Zealand.

Baxter Lin and Shivam Shankar received Bishopdale-Burnside Rotary scholarships to attend The Rotary National Science and Technology Forum in January of 2024. A fantastic opportunity to explore and experience all the different areas of science.

Biology

Year 13 Biology students began 2023 by learning about blood pressure in humans. This understanding allowed them to develop a scientific investigation into the effect that different levels of activity have on human blood pressure. This investigation generously supported by Dr Peter Olsen and his team from Ara Institute of Canterbury. Students made the most of Dr Olsen’s guidance and the equipment Ara provided to allow them to gather data for their experiments.

During Term two Year 13 Biology students visited Orana Park as part of the Human Evolution topic. This experience allows students to observe primate species up close as well as hear the latest developments in the story of human evolution from the knowledgeable zoo staff. The extensive skull collection in the zoo school also allows students to interact with the skulls of the ancestors we have been discussing in classes.

Year 12 Biology began the year learning about animal adaptations that allow them to carry out the life process of gas exchange. This involved learning about insect, fish and mammal gas exchange systems, dissecting each system and doing biological drawings. Students used this information to demonstrate their understanding of each system as part of the assessment for this topic.

The next Year 12 Biology topic had students investigating the goal of Aotearoa becoming predator free by 2050. A field trip to Zero Invasive Pests and Lincoln University allowed students to hear from experts who are developing the tools and carrying out the research required to reach this goal. Tom Agnew, the predator behaviour team leader from ZIP, introduced students to traps that are currently used to control pests like stoats, as well as allowing students to see some of the innovative trapping techniques that are being developed. He also spoke about his thoughts on the future of trapping pests in New Zealand and the use of AI in this process. Students also heard from Dr James Ross, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pest Management and Conservation at Lincoln University. Dr Ross spoke about the situation of managing rats in New Zealand, the issues they are causing and whether we can completely eliminate these pests. Students were able to use the information learnt from ZIP and Lincoln University in the assessment of this topic.

A number of Biology students sat the New Zealand International Biology Olympiad Entrance Exam last year and have been part of the NZIBO study program in 2023. Zoey Kenix, Thea-Rose Willcocks, Jiayi Zheng and Ameya Raut sat the NZIBO camp selection exam early In the year. Congratulations to Thea-Rose, who was selected for the camp, but unfortunately she was unable to take part in the camp this year.

Chemistry

The Chemistry Department celebrated its most successful set of Scholarship results when the 2022 results were released in February. 11 students had gained a Scholarship in Chemistry with 3 of them at an Outstanding level.

The selection process for the 2024 Olympiad team started in October. From the initial test we have two students selected to enter the training squad. They are Ryan Li and Lucy Uren. They now have the training material to continue on with this endeavour in 2024.

Some of our Level 3 students carried out extended investigations in Term 2. This involved looking into trends or patterns in the concentration of a chemical species. Some of the investigations are challenging and require a lot of experimenting to get a workable process before going to the University of Canterbury for a day to carry out the bulk of the analysis. Some of the investigations looked at the salinity of our local estuary and river while many looked at the loss of nutrients such as vitamin C, calcium and iron in the preparation of certain foods. The opportunity to work in a highly equipped laboratory at UC with highly supportive lab demonstrators was appreciated. We look forward to having our own new labs midway through 2024.

Physics

Many of our students at all year levels entered the NZPMC (New Zealand Physics and Mathematics Competition). The competition was run in two rounds, the first being an online national round, with the second round being held in regions on university campuses. 21 Burnside students made it into the final round held at the University of Canterbury, but some unfortunate timing meant it clashed with the World Scholar's Cup and many were unable to attend.

Two teams of our aspiring engineers entered the Engineering Science Competition run by the University of Auckland. The competition ran one Saturday in August over nine hours, with the challenge being to answer this question posed in the morning: “How much electrical power will be required due to New Zealanders adopting the use of generative AI?”. No prizes this year, but a challenging and enjoyable day for the team members.

Unfortunately we were unable to take the Level 2 Physics students on our usual visit to the Electrical Engineering and Physics Departments at UC this year, but are booked in and looking forward to going in 2024!