Western Cape College students ooh and ahh as It’s Rocket Science’s Cran Middlecoat sends a plastic bottle shooting into the air. Photo: Supplied.
From plastic bottle rocket launches to dancing sultanas and much more, Weipa, Mapoon and Cooktown students got hands-on with the mysteries of the universe during National Science Week 2025.
In honour of this year’s school theme, Decoding the Universe – Exploring the Unknown With Nature’s Hidden Language, students at Western Cape College (WCC) and Endeavour Christian College (ECC) delved into chemistry and physics through a range of exciting activities.
WCC Weipa and Mapoon campus students were treated to a thrilling workshop led by It’s Rocket Science facilitator Cran Middlecoat.
“He spoke inspirationally to our students about flying and rockets, and he worked with various cohorts across the schools, across two days,” WCC curriculum head of department Fiona Dyer said.
“He also hosted Launchtime Lunchtimes across the campuses, and they were just a huge hit.
“What he did was he launched rockets and he was doing fair testing; we had an empty bottle that was launched, and then a bottle half full of water, and then a full bottle under the same pressure, and the kids had to predict which one would fly higher.”
Ms Dyer said staff also hosted various lunchtime activities throughout the rest of the week, such as invisible ink and lemon volcanoes, creating fun opportunities to inspire curiosity in the students.
“Especially living remote, we’re so in touch with the community, cultural links, and have a very diverse environment,” she said.
“Many of our students will work for the town’s major employer, Rio Tinto, in the future, and they use scientific knowledge and human inquiry in their workplace for many purposes.
“We have other students who aspire for tertiary studies, so we really need to build a foundation of useful science knowledge that they will extend and apply over time.”
At ECC, staff led activities in their respective classrooms, with prep students exploring yeast and straw planes, and year 5 and 6 students learning about circuit breakers, allowing students of all ages to dive into the science behind the universe in interesting ways.
Year 3 and 4 students performed the dancing sultana experiment as they learned about object density, and the milk dish soap experiment to learn about surface tension.
“It is important to keep science not only fun for the kids, but engaging and exciting,” teacher Shelly-Ann Williams said.
“Science Week is important to celebrate as it is an integral part of our world; it helps us understand how things work, and how to solve real world problems.”
Dancing sultanas make the science of object density exciting for Endeavour Christian College year 3 and 4 students. Photo: Supplied.
