Year 8 Celebrate National Science Week

This week is National Science Week, and to celebrate our Year 8 students have been getting hands-on with biology as they continue their study of the classification of living things. Having explored the world of plants, students have now turned their attention to animals, investigating the characteristics that help scientists group and classify them. Classification is an important scientific process for identifying and organising living things based on their shared characteristics.

On a beautiful day, the students headed into the garden to become wildlife detectives, searching for small creatures to observe and study. Their finds included native bees, bull ants, spiders, caterpillars and plenty of other fascinating garden inhabitants.

The bugs were carefully collected in specimen jars and brought back to the lab, where students could observe them more closely and begin the process of classification. How many legs did they have? Six or eight? Could they fly, crawl or both? Were they insects, or did they belong to another animal group?

With plenty of questions, close observation and a few exciting discoveries along the way, the lesson brought classification to life, proving that sometimes the best science can be found right outside the classroom door. National Science Week runs from 15–23 August 2026 and celebrates science across Australia.