The uniPATH IPQ course has been an intriguing and insightful experience so far. The experience began during the final weeks of Term 4 2020, where the full uniPATH cohort travelled to the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) Campus on a Friday to undertake a Research Skills and Methods class. In this class, we learned about many of the fundamental skills useful in the research and construction of a report. This included ideas such as the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve and the need to take notes on sources, authoritative and non-authoritative sources and how to distinguish between them, and how to use text strings to find relevant sources using an online database. To put these skills to the test, our final assessment was a report on an aspect of one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Goals. My report centred around Sustainable Goal Seven, which is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. I chose to focus my topic on solar microgrids, which are a system of solar panels installed around a region, where electricity can be traded amongst its residents. This technology experimentally used in developing nations to provide clean and affordable energy. I enjoyed the research thoroughly, as I love to learn about engineering and its application to solving problems such as this. Overall, the experience with UNDA and their Research Skills and Methods course was informative and very obviously applicable to future university courses that I will embark on.

After this, the uniPATH group split into a Cambridge IPQ group, consisting of Ashton Teixeira, Rourke Barlow, Seth Hambley, Zayn Buhkari and myself and a LOGOS group. On a Friday, we go to the University of Western Australia (UWA) Crawley campus, where we work with mentors there to write a 5000-word research report which we submit to Cambridge by the end of the year. The topic is open to your own choosing, which allows us to engage in something we are passionate about. The question I formed during Term One is ‘how effective are our current and experimental propulsion methods at meeting requirements for an interstellar capable space probe?’. Our ability to travel freely to the UWA Campus on a Friday not only helps us with our research projects but also allows us to engage with the facilities there to assist us with our school work. Through the course we are given the freedom, not only to pursue what we are passionate about but also to excel inside of the classroom. This is what makes the experience great.

Video Game Design, Mouse Trap Racers, Conspiracy Theories, Bridge Building, Mock Trial and Content Creation are the units that are being explored in ASP during Term 2.

Under the guidance of Mr Luke Deakin our amazing expert volunteer Video Game gurus Leigh and Sean from Huntsman Games
come in once a week to assist a group of enthusiastic boys in designing their own video own game. Much to the boy's delight and possibly parents dismay video game design is a legitimate university course that Sean is currently Guest lecturing in!

In ASP Video Game Design we have been making a space shooter video game using software by the name of Unity. With the help of Sean and Leigh in class and through series of videos that they have made. We get laptops to use to make video games which is great. Although the unit is challenging if you get stuck you can ask Sean and Leigh and they will help you. I can’t wait for my video game to be complete!

• Matthew Champness

Critical and Creative Thinking or Mouse Trap Racers is proving to be a popular unit once again with the boys rising to the challenge to use just a mousetrap as the only source of power for their self-designed vehicle. We will see as the term progresses if they are able to make their cars move! So far there have been a lot of interesting design ideas and already a lot of resigns.

Asp CCT is great for learning different ways to do things and to also learn to trial and error. We get to build not only mouse trap cars but also build friendships with others. Even though I have only been at AC for a term and a half, ASP has really made me get excited about Wednesdays!

• Jack Sharman

Dr David Keatley from Murdoch University has found a great home among the students at Aquinas normally teaching Criminology – however, he has really found his place with Conspiracies. He started the unit posing a series of a Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale to the boys to see where they rated, he fully thought he expected he would need to convince our boys that there were conspiracies in the world…. Are not our boys are true believers and have watched a lot of old movies!

Throughout this past term the ASP has ran a ‘Conspiracy Theories’ program for students interested in the topic. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist/criminal profiler from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and inquisitive conspiracy theories, which they would analyse with a critical eye and try to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that significant events occurred or didn’t occur, including The JFK Assassination, Area 51, and the moon landing. The students have really enjoy the course so far and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Bridge Building seems simple – that is until you are given finite resources right down to the amount of glue you have. The boys have been given the specific specification to work within and finite resources, now they need to work as a team to come up with a plan to find out the best solution for the problem as there are no spares going to be supplied. The first issue they encountered was the longest piece of wood they were given was shorter than the length of the bridge needed to be so they have spent the first few weeks experimenting with what would be the best type of join to make. The best part of this so far has been watching the boys communicate their ideas as of course, their idea is the best! It will be great to see how these bridges turn out and test them in Week 10 or 11.

Content Creation is under the amazing instruction of Ms Ramsay and has the exciting opportunity to travel to Curtin University to hear advertising pitches by students to not-for-profit organisations later this term. We can’t wait to hear want they learn and see what they themselves produce from this unit!

Earlier in the term a group of current and former ASP students attended a Water Think Tank to tackle the problem of water security. Matteo Conte writes about the program:

The Water Think Tank was a great opportunity to engage in a creative project with my friends outside of school. As a team, we were tasked with developing a solution to future water scarcity in Perth and WA. After presentations on the ‘ideation’ (idea-development) process and on the Aboriginal cultural and spiritual connection to water–which would serve as our inspiration for the project–we dived straight into the task.

A major feature of the day was that student voices needed to be heard in the struggle against climate change and we took this message to heart by trying to develop a practical and effective solution to the issue we were presented with. Initially, we decided to tackle water wastage in agriculture, but when we discovered the shocking fact that the vast majority of water wastage occurred in Perth households, our focus shifted.

Research showed us that ornamental gardens and lawns were draining an enormous amount of clean water in Perth, and so the Native Gardens project was born. We developed the idea to legislate and promote the replacement of public and private lawns and ornamental plants with native Australian varieties, which would reduce water usage by around 50%. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire process but especially making and presenting our slide show to explain our idea.

While we didn’t win this year, we returned to school in high spirits, having had a fantastic day filled with creativity. I encourage any boys who are invited to participate in this event to throw themselves into it enthusiastically. Their ideas could contribute to the future of water management in Western Australia.

• Matteo Conte

On the 29^th of March, the Year 10 Advanced Science and Engineering class had an astronomy evening at the Perth Observatory.

The excursion was part of our astronomy unit and gave us a great opportunity to observe the night sky with the facilities they have.

The evening began with us cooking some burgers on the barbeque for dinner and a chance to relax and enjoy our food. After our meal, we were given a tour of the museum by the staff where we got to see some of the first telescopes that were used at the observatory – now outdated. After the museum tour, we were taken up the main tower and shown the largest telescope at the observatory. Part of an international network of telescopes, it had helped discover several minor planets and was also used to observe gamma-ray bursts.

Once it was dark enough we were taken to the still operational telescopes to do some observations of our own. We took turns looking at various star clusters, the telescopes allowing us to do so in much greater detail than with the naked eye. After this, we had had a chance to look at the moon. Despite the cloud cover increasing, we were still able to have a decent look, the telescope allowing us to make out craters and other features clearly. Finally, we were taken to a half-constructed tower, which the observatory had intended to use to house another telescope before the project was cancelled. The part that was constructed was repurposed into an artwork, with the inside painted with a representation of many of the patterns seen in the night sky by Noongar people, along with some of the patterns seen in western culture.

By this point, it was after 10 o’clock and we were all feeling tired after a 10+ hour day. After the hour-long bus ride home, we were all eager to get to bed. Overall the excursion was a great experience and gave us all a good opportunity to use telescopes with expert guidance and be able to make our own observations of the night sky.

On the 30^th and 31^st March, boys from Yr 11 Outdoor Rec classes took the hour and a half bus trip to Dwellingup.

There we completed the Turner Hill (11km) and the Marrinup (8km) mountain biking trails. Turner Hill being the more challenging of the two. We weaved our way through the trees with minimal stacks and no serious injuries. The weather forecasted for a slight chance of rain but thankfully that was avoided. it was a good day and was followed by a much-needed servo stop on the way back, giving us a chance to refuel for training in the arvo. Thanks to everyone who organised it.

The Aquinas myFUTURE program gives Senior School students a number of ways to grow, develop and learn. Some students opted to spend their Friday time last semester in Service-based activities.

Term 1 always seems to go past so fast – this one even more so with the first week in lockdown and being only 9 weeks long.

ASP was straight underway with our AMAZING criminology crew heading online so the boys did not miss out. A HUGE THANK YOU to Dr David Keatley and Jason Dohle at Murdoch University for enabling the Year 8s and 9s to use the Murdoch Blackboard System to access the Criminology Unit online – the engagement, as usual, was fantastic throughout the unit. Thanks also to the AMAZING Aquinas staff who make ASP possible; Mr Paul West and Mr David White have run units this Term. Also to Matthew Vinci in Year 10 who comes along twice a week and runs the Middle School Academic Extension Club on Monday and Wednesday Lunch - the boys and I greatly enjoy and appreciate this.

• Mrs Monks

Criminology

Dr Dave has been continually impressed by the AC ASP students with their enthusiasm and investigative skills. This term they did not disappoint filling the boards in the SB13 ‘dungeon’ with their theories, which they excitedly presented. Dr Dave and Jason were amazed at their findings and astounded at the amount of work the boys had put in. Both Dr Dave and Jason will be back next term with a new Conspiracy Theory Unit.

• Mrs Monks

Throughout this past term, the ASP has run a criminology program for students eager to learn about the topic, including how to solve a crime mystery, by looking at the behaviour of criminals and their social normalities and abnormalities. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), alongside Jason Dohle, from Murdoch’s education department, this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and cold cases, which they have attempted to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that a crime has occurred (at a professional level), including the Zodiac Murders, and the CPF-21 Plane bombing. The students have really enjoyed the course and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Ancient Architecture

A new unit for ASP this term was invented by resident ASP expert Mr Paul West – Ancient Architecture. This unit has been a resounding success with the boys who have happily come to tell me about the research they have been doing. I am eager to see their presentations in week 9!

• Mrs Monks

This year many of us from the middle school who undertook the Ancient Architecture ASP, learnt about different ancient cultures such as the Mesopotamians or the Greeks, focusing mainly on their construction and meaning of their architecture. Our task, to learn about a chosen civilisation and to construct one of their well-known buildings, presenting both to the class during the final lesson. My group chose to study the Sumerians, known for creating the earliest form of written texts. Mr West helped us, using his extensive knowledge of many of these early cultures, which kept us in the right direction and aided us in the creation of our miniature models. Personally, I found the recreation the best part as we looked closer into these great feats of engineering and took in some of the less notable details, such as our group noticed that the Ziggurat of Ur, the structure we chose to build, was not dedicated to Sumerian Sun God, as would be assumed from a culture that is so focused on farming, but is instead of the moon God known as Nanna. After having done this course for a term now, I truly believe that it has helped increase my knowledge on the history and will definitely choose it again if made an option later.

• Riley Nel

CCT

A favourite of ASP is the CCT course – Creative and Critical Thinking this term has seen the boys work in pairs to research and build a mousetrap racer. This has been a real challenge with our super condensed term thanks to Year 7 Camp, NAPLAN and CATs! Hopefully, we can get a car moving, if not the boys will have an excellent holiday project!

Marble run

A small enthusiastic bunch of boys came together to take part in the Marble run ASP unit this term.

• Mrs Monks

Marble Run has been a fun and creative unit to take part in. In each lesson, all students participate together using teamwork to create a ‘marble run’ which involves trial and error. Every part of the marble run sees students tinkering their different parts to be able to make their run perfectly. Marble Run gives students the ability to use their creative craft skills to be able to compete with other groups in the course at the end of term one. Marble Run is definitely a course I would consider people to take part in if they are into crafting and problem-solving.

• Christian Pecotic

During Term 1 we also have several competitions the Synergy Solar Car, Have Sum Fun Maths, IM2C and Have Sum Fun Maths. The Solar Car Team reached the Semi-Finals which is a great achievement, thanks to all the efforts of Mr David White throughout the term and well done to all the boys who took part!

Have Sum Fun

The Have Sum Fun Maths Year 9 and 10 had 1 team place 3rd in their competition at All Saints on the 19th of March – WELL DONE BOYS!

• Mrs Monks

Have Sum Fun is one of those competitions where it always seems so chaotic right at the start. From the last minute prep to the high energy competition there’s never a moment of quiet but in that djinn of rounds there is a vibrance and electricity of energy in the air that is almost tangible. With multiple of Aquinas’s brightest minds squashed into one team, there was bound to be squabbles and debates but there was also great bonding. I have enjoyed my two years in this competition which has allowed me to learn and grow, I have learnt the value of perseverance, pushing the Aquinas team from outside the top 5 last year to 3rd this year. It has been a great honour to represent Aquinas in Have Sum Fun and I definitely hope there will be more opportunities in future

• Samuel Yeow

On Monday the 29th of March, eight Year 9 and eight Year 10 students participated in the 2021 Da Vinci Decathlon at the University of Western Australia.

It was an early start for the students with everyone gathering at 7.30 for the day's event. The Da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition held annually in different countries and is run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon. Students compete in teams of eight across ten disciplines including engineering, maths, code-breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers and general knowledge.

Once we arrived at UWA it was time to strategise and allocate who would complete each paper. Together with teamwork, collaboration and a lot of writing, both Year 9 and 10 teams managed to achieve Aquinas’ highest results yet with the Year 9s coming 3rd in maths and 2nd in both creative producers and science. The Year 10’s were placed first in maths and came 2nd in science. This was a great improvement from what we were able to achieve at the last event 2 years ago. Overall, it was a great day for all who participated and I can strongly recommend it to those wanting to compete in future years.

In Year 4, the focus has been on ‘Setting’ and describing the setting through the five senses. Below are some examples of work produced by boys in 4W.

Inside a dangerous dark haunted room with no lights on there was a pile of snakes hissing. The old spooky man crept down wet gluey stairs. He could hear water dripping as he crept side to side along the walls. He was terrified as he heard the creepy dripping sound drip, drip, drip. Then he heard a huge loud bang! As a spooky red clown broke the windows he was scared as a mouse…

• Zayd

The pitch-black creepy room had nothing in it. The depressed man creeps slowly down the hard stairs. All he could hear was water drip, drip. The water was silent as a mouse. The depressed man gleamed and saw nothing.

• Duy

In a creepy, dark, empty room with no lights on. The ancient man stared down the creepy and crooked stairs. The man heard water splashing on the cold metal stairs. Suddenly the ancient man heard a bloodcurdling scream “AHHHH”!

• Digby

Anxiously a mysterious figure lurks into the room its dark and miserable discarded pipes hang from the ceiling. Drip drop drip drop water leaks from the rusty pipes falling to the floor. He walks down the narrow stairwell with rust infecting it and spreading like a virus. A smaller room is below. More pipes and water oil gurgles out of some pipes and smoke oozing out of the vents like a factory. The Walls are smothered in all sorts of graffiti and blood curdling screams come from below.

• Hugh

Silently, there sat a spooky room as dark as midnight! The wrinkly man walks down the steep cracked stairs. He can hear the ice-cold water dripping and hitting the pavement, that was as hard as Diamond.

• Declan

An Aquinas College team has secured a place in the Synergy Schools Solar Challenge state final next month.

The Year 8 team won the South Metro Regional Semi Final at Rossmoyne Senior High School, winning the knockout, best of three races competition over four rounds.

The team’s car only tallied one loss across the competition.

Aquinas College had 10 teams in the semi final, which involved students building solar cars using Synergy-supplied kits and racing them over a 20m distance. The Aquinas team heading to the state finals put its success down to the aerodynamic shape of the winning car.

“We think the reason our car was so fast was due to its lightness and flat aerodynamic shape.”

“While other schools angled their panels to capture more sunlight, our testing showed this only had a minor effect in a short 20m race – instead, we focused on streamlining the shape and using a smaller gear to maximise the speed in the last section of the race.”

This was Aquinas College’s first attempt at the Synergy Solar Challenge, however, the College’s experience in the field of solar energy goes back more than 20 years, with success in the Australian Model Solar Car Championships.

The team will compete for the Champion Schools trophy at Optus Stadium on 9^th April.