We apologise to any school that has missed out. We do have a waiting list and still encourage you to complete a booking request form. In the event of a cancellation you will be contacted.

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2019 is the fourth year in which BioLAB have been working alongside students and staff from The Saltwater Institute, developing and delivering innovative educational programs designed specifically for students within the program.

The Saltwater Institute provides an opportunity for students to pursue their love of surfing while embracing educational excellence.

“The team at BioLAB have been so supportive in making The Saltwater Institute such an innovative and educationally sound program. 2019 will be our fourth year with BioLAB, who are now an integral component of our overall program and curriculum design. BioLAB staff are full of energy and design innovative session, using a wide assortment of impressive technologies used to collect primary data on our students. I very much look forward to continuing to build this relationship into the future”.

Sam Magree, The Saltwater Institute Founder

2019 saw students ranging from year 7-10 experience eight individually tailored science and maths sessions showcasing a range of the latest technologies designed to allow students to collect and analyse primary data specially intended to improve surfing performance.

A few snippets from 2019 Saltwater Institute students.

• “I’ve never really been into math and science but BioLAB has shown me otherwise”.
• “BioLAB have been amazing at making math and science fun. I’ve really enjoyed how we get to work with our own surfing data”.
• “BioLAB have brought a new level of maths and science to the table”.

Thank you again to Sam, Hollie and the entire cohort of student from the Saltwater Institute for a wonderful year. BioLAB are already planning for what 2020 has in store.

For any further enquiries regarding The Saltwater Institute, contact Sam at sam.saltwater@gmail.com

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The first workshop was run recently in Wangaratta with a full day workshop looking at “Shifting Mathematical Mindset”. The session was presented to primary and secondary Maths teachers from the region at Wangaratta High School. Andrew’s philosophy to teaching includes shifting student’s mindset when engaging with mathematical concepts.

Think Square’s resources provide a challenging and interactive way to support classroom learning. Andrew provided Think Square’s alternative to chalk and talk or textbook questions for a number of ‘hard to teach’ concepts. He then asked teachers for concepts and showed the resources are flexible across the curriculum. Throughout the day teachers were challenged themselves by completing the activities. This resulted in a lot of smiles and discussion about classroom applications. As part of the PD, each school received a complementary resource kit so their students could engage as much as teachers did during the PD.

Thank you to Wangaratta High School for hosting the event and Andrew from Think Square for an enjoyable and engaging day.

Our next ” Shifting Mathematical Mindset” workshop with Think Square will be occuring on July 29th @ Biolab. Any teachers interested in attending please contact us at admin@biolab.vic.edu.au

https://thinksquare.com.au/

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Over 20 students participated in a full day experience at the Deakin Cats Community Centre, receiving an exclusive tour of the clubs inner sanctum and a special visit from the Cats Indigenous players.

The student’s focus of the day was to explore how science, maths and health has helped to shape the game of football. Using cutting edge technology, students recorded their maximum speed, vertical jump, handball accuracy and reaction time. They compared their results to classmates and current AFL players.

Students also learnt the importance of nutrition and maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle, which was emphasised by the visit from six of the Cats Indigenous players.

The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is a significant and memorable event on the AFL calendar, one BioLAB in partnership with the Geelong Cats are very proud to celebrate with these young Indigenous students.

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We apologise to any schools that have missed out, we do have a waiting list and in the event of a cancellation you will be contacted.

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Harry Taylor and George Horlin-Smith athletes from the Geelong Football Club were present for this session and provided students with insights, real life science application and experiences in elite sport settings.

Students were able to gain first-hand insight and work with the players on athlete training, hydration, nutrition, recovery and rehabilitation. Both Harry and George, combined with BioLAB Education Officers Cam and Renee bring a wonderful dynamic to this session with many personal experiences shared throughout – a fantastic opportunity for all involved!

The program covered the following areas and students spent 40mins within each of the below focus areas;

• Hydration and Nutrition for Performance
• Training Methods and Chronic Adaptations to Training
• Exercise Science and Nutrition Career Pathways

Student Feedback:

“Very enjoyable engaging and interactive, everyone was lovely and cheerful which made the experience even better. It also gave me a practical insight into the nutritional and hydration requirements for exercise which helped me to develop a deeper understanding of the science behind performance”

Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College Student.

The post Athlete Performance and Science for Success appeared first on BioLAB.

This morning, students from Bell Park North Primary School were welcomed into the Geelong Cat’s inner sanctum for a day of learning about cutting edge science, mathematics and health of footy.

BioCATS is an experiential learning program delivered to grade 5 and 6 school students from across Victoria, from Geelong to Warrnambool to Bendigo and the Grampians. BioCATS is a partnership program designed and delivered by BioLAB in partnership with the Geelong Cats.

The maths, science technology and health-based program was established in 2013 and is run in partnership with the Geelong Cats with support from Bisinella Developments and SEDA College.

“This is such an exciting milestone for this fantastic partnership program. Since 2013 we have had such wonderful feedback from students and teachers who have participated in the program,” BioLAB Director Yvonne Van Der Ploeg said.

“It’s not unusual for BioCATS staff to be stopped in the streets by parents of students who have come home full of excitement about their day! It’s like learning by stealth, students don’t realise how much science, mathematics and health they have covered by having fun during a day at BioCATS.

“The program aims to capture the imagination of students and draw a clear link between work done in the classroom and the real world. The partnership with the Geelong Cats and link with the Deakin Cats Community Centre helps us to achieve that.”

Bisinella Developments’ Managing Director Richard Bisinella said the BioCATS milestone was a fantastic achievement.

“BioCATS provides the unique opportunity of engaging students in the world of maths, science and health and teaching them about the benefits of sport in a fun and interactive way,” he said.

Bisinella, one of the region’s largest residential and industrial developers, has been proudly sponsoring sporting clubs and programs in the City of Greater Geelong for the past 25 years.

Bisinella has sponsored BioCATS since 2015 and in early 2018 announced a three-year extension of this sponsorship.

“The chance for children to be active and play sport is vital for our community,” Mr Bisinella said.

“BioCATS not only teaches students about the science and maths behind football, it reinforces the many benefits which come with sport and leading a healthy lifestyle.”

The post BioCATS celebrates 10,000 students! appeared first on BioLAB.

Students performed a protein analysis practical with experienced BioLAB staff, Deakin University internship students and VCE Biology teachers. They then used these results to determine the signal transduction pathway in muscle cells in response to growth hormone.

This study session was designed to help to consolidate VCE Biology Unit 3 knowledge and also give students the chance to study alongside students from other schools and talk about career and study pathways.

These BioLAB Study Sessions are a wonderful way for students in the Geelong region to meet and work with other students from around the region, in addition to meeting and working with staff from various scientific, industry and educational backgrounds.

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24 Students from 11 different Geelong schools attended a 2-hour workshop, facilitated by Renee Lane, Cameron Stewart (from BioLAB) and Kris Hinck (from Deakin) who has just returned from a month long stint as an Exercise Scientist with the Commonwealth Games, gold medal winning Australian Boomers.

The workshop was held at Deakin University’s state of the art, Waurn Ponds campus and included activities centred around;

• Live blood lactate testing via a step test, where an elite multi-sport athlete (Luke Haines) completed 6 x 1600m on the athletics track.
• Lactate Inflection Point – live data analysis and graph interpretation.
• Fatigue and chronic adaptations to training.
• Career pathway discussions.

All students had a fantastic night and loved working with students from other schools.

 Student Quotes

“It was an amazing experience and it really helped me with some of those tricky terms that i sometimes get confused with. Putting what we have learnt in class into a different, more applied context is very effective in building knowledge and opening your mind to exam situations”.

“I found the workshop very interesting. I loved talking to the staff because it gave me an insight as to what happens at Deakin, and what vastly different careers we can obtain from studying there”

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This event was part of the exciting 2018 partnership between BioLAB and the Geelong Digital Learning Network (GDLN), which has been created to connect and support teachers all over Victoria involved in the new Digital Technology Curriculum and STEM learning.

In addition to the Next Level Digi Tech Conference BioLAB has been hosting the GDLN professional development sessions, which are aimed at encouraging staff from participating schools to not only get hands on with range of different digital technologies but also develop a better and deeper understanding when designing the scope and sequence for teaching the digital technology curriculum in the classroom.

If you are interested in attending any of the upcoming free professional development network meetings, please contact our Bookings Officer at admin@biolab.vic.edu.au

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BioLAB welcomes Kate Darby to BioCATS team. Kate is a current member of the Geelong Football Club VFL Womens team and a previous Carlton AFLW player. She has a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Human Movement and has had amazing experiences around the world providing students with educational programs in sports and education activities. Kate is an enthusiastic member of the BioCATS team helping to deliver the program on Mondays to students from across Victoria throughout 2018.

BioCATS is very fortunate to have the GFC first year players involved in the program throughout 2018. Tim. Lachie, Charlie and Gryan have all made a terrific impact with the students, getting involved in all BioCATS activities and answering the many inquisitive questions the students have about life as an AFL footballer.

• • Tim Kelly
  • Lachie Fogarty
  • Charlie Constable
  • Gryan Miers

We welcome this years BioCATS SEDA students to the team, Jacob and Darcie have already made a very positive impact on the program. Their enthusiasm and commitment to BioCATS has ensured we have hit the ground running in 2018!

We also congratulate the Deakin Cats Community Centre who this week hit 90,000 visitations and celebrate their 5^th anniversary on Friday 1st June. It has been a pleasure working with you all and such a fantastic partnership!

The post BioCATS 2018 appeared first on BioLAB.

The workshop included;

• Live VO2 Max test, utilising our state of the art $60,000 metamax system – with our resident athlete Luke Haines recording a result of 72ml/kg/min.
• Fuel Utilisation: Fat v’s Carbohydrate (live data analysis) and the changes to fuel contribution as exercise intensity increases.
• Oxygen consumption at rest, during exercise and throughout recovery.

Staff were taken through practical applications of primary data analysis relevant to the classroom.

All staff had a fantastic night, with plenty of fun and laughter throughout the event.

 Here is some wonderful feedback we recieved from delegates: 

“We LOVED it – was a fantastic PD and one that was very useful for our teaching both in terms of the theoretical side as well as providing learning activities. Thank you so much for the opportunity.” 

“It was wonderful to be able to attend such high quality PD locally, maximising the amazing facilities of Biolab and Deakin plus the expertise of the staff at both.
Love the Biolab staff – engaging, clear, deep subject knowledge, approachable.” 

If you would like to hear more about our 2018 Professional Development Workshop Series please register your interest with our Bookings Administration Officer at (admin@biolab.vic.edu.au)

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