STEM Excursion

Sunday, 6 March 2016

5:01 PM

Hi there! So last week 10 Year 9 STEM students went on an excursion to QUT. This excursion was run by the university group GEMS. Their initiative is to educate young women on all areas of engineering at the university. There were about 4 other schools there. First we all started in a presentation room and were given an outline of GEMS and what they do as well as a guest engineer speaker. We were given coloured wristbands that would later determine our groups which impacted our activities.

I was in green group which paired up with yellow group to first do a water filtration exercise. This involved choosing a desk with a country attached to it (Eva, Laura's and mine was Ethiopia). Each country, depending on how developed it was, received a certain amount of 'money' (paper money) and instructions to spend on supplies. Ours, being Ethiopia, was only supplied $20 and very minimal instructions compared to the team with Australia, who was given $1000 to spend on supplies.

Next, for my group, was using Little Bits. Little Bits are small magnetised mechanical pieces that when joined together can make amazing products and do spectacular actions. Again, we worked in small groups and were given a list of task to complete. The last task was to be creative and come up with something yourself, so our group created something that when you walk into your room the fan turns on and you can turn on your light. Two other groups created alarm systems for a house.

The other activity offered was a dinosaur exploration. This involved the students walking around the university's 'Cube' and filling in a booklet about the dinosaurs they saw. This information included their extinction date, height and other various facts about them.

After this activity was lunch. QUT provided us lunch that consisted of a gourmet sandwich (ham, chicken or vegetarian), a muffin (either chocolate or raspberry) and a popper (tropical or apple). These were really good and well needed as after those activities we were very hungry.

So after lunch came the adventure. Each school went to their own engineering 'site' and Brigo's happened to be the XXXX brewery for a tour of their factory. We were provided orange vests and safety glasses as well as ear blockers for one particularly noisy part of the tour. I can imagine for someone who loved beer it would have smelt great, for 14 year old girls, this was not the case.  I can tell you from a firsthand experience, hops DOES NOT smell good. Despite the smell, the tour was greatly beneficial for understanding innovation in companies. Our tour guide explained to us the environmental concerns it has catered for with it water recycler and the recipe and production changes that took place when the company was beginning.

This is what Eva thought of the event: "It was a really enjoyable day. I loved the water filter activity, because it was interesting and difficult. I also enjoyed the lunch, it was free and delicious!" 

Thank You very much Ms Kath and Dr Reid for accompanying us. This was a brilliant experience and one to definitely be remembered.

My Fitness Routine

So, this post is about my fitness routine. I work out at a gym 5 days a week for half an hour and almost every night at home. I have always enjoyed being strong and fit but I haven't been running fit since grade 3, I am not kidding, so this year I have decided to make myself running fit as well as swimming fit and this is how I do it:

DISCLAIMER: This routine matches my fitness so if you decide to do it, you may need to modify it.

Monday Morning (5:30 am):

I do a half an hour run/walk. This week I will be running for 8 min cooling down for 2 (3 times) and each week I increase this by a minute, so next week I'll be running for 9 and cooling down for 1. Make sure you stretch before this to avoid any nasty cramps.

Monday Night:

I dance for 30 minutes to an hour in my room. I have always enjoyed dancing and I find this is a great way to go to bed easier because you should be exhausted. To do this exercise I put in earphones and put on a pop playlist on Spotify and work my butt off.

Tuesday Morning (5:30 am):

Basic neck, shoulders, ankle warm up x3 minutes 

Leg and knee stretches x2 minutes

Cardio to get my heart rate up (high knees and butt flicks)

Then I start ab workout: 

10 leg jumps

30 sit ups

30 Russian crunches

30 ballet twists 

20 leg taps 

(side to side)

10 dolphin sit ups 

(Start flat then roll your neck and back until you reach your toes then go up and use your stomach muscles to hold yourself up then go forward again then back down to the ground.

Shake out

Knee twists

Back to leg taps

15 leg jumps

10 min run at 9km/hr

Tuesday Night:

Dancing Again

Wednesday Night (6:30pm):

Mat Pilates. This is great for muscular strength and endurance.

Thursday:

Rest day from gym but dancing at night.

Friday Morning:

I do a half an hour run/walk. This week I will be running for 8 min cooling down for 2 (3 times) and each week I increase this by a minute, so next week I'll be running for 9 and cooling down for 1. Make sure you stretch before this to avoid any nasty cramps.

Friday Night:

Dancing again

Sunday:

Basic neck, shoulders, ankle warm up x3 minutes 

Leg and knee stretches x2 minutes

Cardio to get my heart rate up (high knees and butt flicks)

Then I start ab workout: 

10 leg jumps

30 sit ups

30 Russian crunches

30 ballet twists 

20 leg taps 

10 dolphin sit ups 

Shake out

Knee twists 

Back to leg twists

15 leg jumps

10 min run at 9km/hr

 + dancing at night

D.I.Y: "The Best Chocolate Cookie Recipe!"

So, since I watch a lot of YouTube I came across Zoella making Tanya Burr's cookie recipe. Here's the link to the original blog post: http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/2015/05/my-chocolate-cookie-recipe/

To make 10 (rather large) cookies you will need:

200g butter

300g caster sugar

1 large egg

275g self-raising flour

75g cocoa powder

a little dash of milk

a large bar of milk chocolate (Cadburys is my fave)

a large bar of white chocolate

a large bar of dark chocolate (this is totally optional – only add if you are a dark choice fan. Sometimes I add Daim bars instead of dark choc for a yummy toffee crunch!)

Method:

Pop your oven on to 200 degrees celsius

Cream together your butter and sugar

Crack in your egg

Stir in all the dry ingredients

Add a dash of milk if your mixture is looking dry

Break up all of your chocolate and throw it in, using your hands to get it into the dough

Line 2 trays with baking paper (the cookies will spread in the oven so don’t place them close together)

Pick up a 10 small handfuls of cookie dough and place them onto your trays

Pop them into the oven for 11 minutes – I have found this to be the perfect baking time. When you get them out they will not look cooked, it is vital you know this, as it will be very tempting to leave them in for longer and then they’ll be hard and overcooked once they are cool. Just take your cookies out after 11 minutes and leave them to cool for about 30 minutes.

So I hope you enjoy these cookies! They are great for school lunches and snacks. But all credit to Tanya Burr!