News & Events
Grade 5 Explores the New Middle School STEM Wing
5th grade students paid a visit to the new Middle School STEM facility to use its state-of-the-art lab equipment for their study of plant and animal cells. Students prepared cell slides of both plants and animals for the purpose of observing the differences of each organism’s cell organelle.
The hands-on science activity engaged students and “helped excite them about science,” said 5th grade teacher Amal Rishani. Students used the lab’s high-tech microscopes to observe the nucleus, cell membrane and nucleolus of the animal cell, as well as the cell wall, nucleus and vacuole of the plant. The renovated space of the new science wing provided ample room for students to spread out and conduct the experiment in groups.
“Going to the new Middle School STEM lab was the climax of the unit for the students,” said Rishani. “It was an excellent learning opportunity, and something the students had been looking forward to for weeks.”
IB Year 2 Chemistry Class Partakes in Field Investigation on Limestone Rocks
Senior class students from Dania Maaliki’s IB Year 2 Chemistry class participated in a field investigation at Sporting Club in early October. The class learned how to identify limestone by observing layered masses and testing rock faces with acid to see if it sparked a reaction. Students learned that the rocks that reacted by fizzing with the addition of acid were limestone.
“Many of them did not know that this type of rock is limestone, which is the main rock found in Lebanon,” said Maaliki.
Students were then asked to link the dissolving effect of acid on the environment. “In the IB curriculum, an environmental aspect is embedded into each unit, which I think is very important in helping raise environmental awareness,” said Maaliki. The field study ended with a discussion of acid rain’s impact on Lebanon’s natural landscape and how it will affect the country long-term.