Class 11 History of Electricity Main Lesson

Across the first six weeks of Term Two, both Class 11 groups have embarked on a journey of discovery and exploration, to answer the question: What is Electricity? Their Physics Main Lesson topic of the History of Electricity provides the Class 11 student with the chance to examine the infinitesimal, contrasting the exploration of the infinite of the Projective Geometry Main Lesson. Students must rely on their imagination to build their knowledge of electricity towards that of the current era, marrying their observations with their unfolding understanding of the phenomena.

Students emulated the experiences of the Ancient Greeks: starting from observation and generating their understanding from experience. Each new experience provided more information, inducing questions and preventing them from allowing their ideas on electricity to stay static. The class replicated some of the ground-breaking experiments of William Gilbert, Charles Du Fay, and Alessandro Volta. Like humanity’s path to understanding, some missteps are inevitably taken, showing that even the modern human is not immune to mistakes.

Students completed their experience in this Main Lesson with the task of attempting to go 24 hours using as little electricity as possible. Aiming to be electricity free for a whole day forced them to plan their actions – some were more successful than others. The experience of living a modern life without electricity opened their eyes to how dependent we are on it as a society, despite many of us not truly knowing what electricity really is.

Brett Kranz-Little
Physics Teacher

Class 12 Play - The Arabian Nights

“A wall is hard to knock down by yourself, but with 40 vessels that have been strengthened with anthroposophy, the task becomes simple” - Tooi Ng (Class 12 Student)

The process of building the set has been challenging, as finding the right materials and getting the designs and measurements correct has proved difficult. It is slightly behind schedule due to the fact that everyone’s time is split over many different roles within the production, but regardless of the time restraints the set is surpassing the original expectations. The set has two main parts: the outline of King Shahryar’s palace, decorated with intricate patterns inspired by Arabic style art, and then the band stage for the musicians. Electrical work is being done to add unique styles of lighting to the stage, which will ‘set the scene’ beautifully. Working on the set has stretched our creativity and patience, as transferring ideas from pen and paper, and bringing them to life has been challenging, but it has been an overall rewarding experience.

Moving onto the musical side of the production, things are flowing naturally. It has been a productive process as the musicians draw on Arabic sounds using melodic minor scales and hand percussion to convey the desired feeling wanted for the play. It has been an organic process with a variety of instruments and dynamics being experimented with.

The students' commitment to detail and artistry promises to enrich every aspect of the performance, leaving an indelible mark on the audience for each show.

This beautiful and comedic production is being presented on 24th and 25th of November. Do not miss out, purchase your tickets today at: https://www.artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au/venues/subiaco-arts-centre/whats-on/arabian-nights/

Recommended for ages 13+ but all are welcome at parents’ discretion.