1995 School Magazine

6irlg' 6rsmmar 5r!oot Grrsbsne 1995

DAYS OF EXCEIIFNCE fhis year's Days of Excellence program organised by I thir-teen schools in the greater Brisbane area, offered a wide range of exciting and challenging experiences to students from Years Nine and Ten. As well as discovering new ways of learning, students work in a new environment and make new friends. Here, three students share their responses to three very diflerent workshops: "Critical Thinking in History and Politics", "Computer Interfacing and Electronics", and "l7etlands of Moreton Bay". On Thursday 1st, and Friday 2nd of September 1995, I attended a "Days of Excellence" workshop on'Critical Thinking in History and Politics', held at Clayfield College. On the first day, we conducted an investigation of the fascinating mystery which surrounds the last Russian Emperor and his family, the Romanovs. To come to conclusions about the fate of the royal iamily, students employed many innovative thinking techniques, such as "P.M.I.'s", "T-barAnalyses", "Round Robins", "Barometer Analyses", "1:3 Shares", and "Graphic Organisers". At the end of the day, we had unravelled most of the conflicting evidence, and I had learnt about an entire period of history about which, previously, I knew nothing. The second day was a lot more complicated. \7e played an amazrngexercise called the "Balance of Power Game". Students were grouped into pairs or threes, and were given a hypotheti- cal country, which possessed different amounts of commodities and military strengths, calied "factors". Our objective was either to increase or decrease by ten, seven of our eieven factors by the end of the game. My team decided that our country, "Catcoala", would try to increase its oil factors. Just to look the part, we donned ollr tea towels, sheets and sunglasses to look like rich Arabs! By two o'clock, we had survived three wars, and had become savage, ruthless negotiators. \(/.e broke alliances which, only an hour before, we had sworn to keep forever, and had posted our spies in strategic locations, looking for signs of anfhing which might jeopardise our alliances or threaten trade. Days of Excellence was one of the most enjoyable and lnteresting events I've attend this year. I would recommend it for any Year Nine or Ten student who wants to involve herself in a subject she enjoys, and meet people with similar interests. NAOMI SEARLE he Days of Excellence program I attended was a workshop on Computer and Electronic Interfacing, something relatively new to me. The program involved writing programs on Basic, to control light emitting diodes and elec- tronic speakers. This was very interesting and it also provided the opportunity for me to meet peopie my age, who attend different schools and socialise and learn in a relaxed environ- ment.

/-1n Friday 1st September, I participated in the 'Days of \-,,/Excellence Program'. Along with ten other students from various Brisbane schools, I spent the day studying the mangroves and shores of Moreton Bay. After meetlng at Corpus Christi Co1lege, the day began with a visit to Shorncliff Headland to get a view of Moreton Bay from a good vantage point. There we discussed the formation of the bay, searched for fossils in the cliffs, and examined life on the rocky shore. Next we classified species of mangroves at the mouth of the North Pine River. We succeeded in identifying various species but we also learnt much abor-rt the structure of mangroves and the role they play in our environment. This was followed by a pleasant walk in Boondall Sfetlands Resele where it was easy to see the effects of erosion and drought; where we were supposed to be trekking through ankle-deep mud, the cracked ground crum- bled beneath our feet. The overall emphasis of the day was on man's effect on his environment and the importance of man- groves as avrtal eco-system. Despite the swarms of mosquitoes and sticky dark mud, I found the day to be a stimulating and rewarding experience. GEORGA COOKE

TOURNAMENT OF MINDS Q TOP! Before you turn the page, answer this question: Do r.) you like BBQ chicken pizza? \f you answered yes, or in lact no, you shouid join T.O.M.

Langudge and literature team in rebearsal The meetings started in Term 1, and it seemed T.O.M. had lived down its daggy reputation with a large number of people turning up. In total B.G.G.S. had five teams in the competition this year. The problems were entitled 'Rock-n-Roil', 'A Muddle of Malapropisms' and '\Tinners'. One person from each team (Charlotte Kok, Ana Urbancic-Kenny, Rebecca Farley, Emma Cornford and Meagan Capper) attended a drama workshop,

ELIN CHARLES-EDWARDS

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