7 / 20
7
S C I E N C E
Primary Science Fair
We held our annual Primary Science Fair on Monday 9 March at
the start of British ScienceWeek.This year eighteen teams of L6
scientists put together their stalls on the theme of “Our Diverse
Planet” in the Great Hall. Two hundred excitedYear 6 visitors
from a range of local primary and prep schools enjoyed visiting
the stalls, listening to the L6 explain some quite complicated
ideas and, of course, taking part in the various hands-on
opportunities available. The Sixth Formers hadn’t shied away
from tackling advanced ideas such as electromagnetism, the
complexity of language and the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere
and life forms.
Our guest judge was, again, Dr Elizabeth Swinbank, Honorary
Fellow in Science Education, University of York. She described
the job of picking a winner as “a challenge” and was most
complimentary about the various stalls in her report. She had
a series of judging criteria on which to base her final decisions.
These were: complexity; clarity of explanation; poster; table
displays and demonstrations; relevance to the theme and
engagement. She noted that “every display drew a crowd and
each did well according to at least some of the judging criteria.”
The shortlisted teams were as follows.
•
Fishalicious: for clear relevance to the theme, simple
but effective demonstration and an eye-catching poster
(and headgear).
•
Tsunami Defence: for well-designed and memorable
demonstrations using a tank that they made themselves
and effective engagement with the audience.
•
Bouba/kiki: for a novel choice of topic that related
strongly to the theme, and effective interaction with the
visitors using both visual aids and recordings.
•
Flame Tests and Change of State also did well, drawing
good numbers with attractive posters and activities.
Dr Swinbank named Tsunami Defence as the overall winner.
She praised them for clear explanation of some key ideas which
were conveyed with enthusiasm through well thought out
demonstrations. She also commended them on the design and
making of the tank which “was outstandingly good”. Very well
done to James, Ben, Henri and Lewis.The visiting pupils’ votes
indicated that this was also the most popular this year with
Change in State (Leya,Vidya, Emilia and Oluwadamilola) being the
runners up. It has never happened before that the most popular
exhibit was also the one chosen by the judge!
In addition, visitors got the chance to have their passports stamped
at the three science zones: chemistry, physics and biology.
Dr Swinbank was lavish in her praise,“Many congratulations to all
the teams and organisers of the science fair. A huge amount of
work had clearly been done both beforehand and on the day.This
work paid off with a highly successful event which I’m sure will
have a positive impact both on the young visitors and on the Sixth
Formers themselves.” It is always gratifying to receive thanks from
the participating schools after this event such as the email from Ms
Jordan of Handsworth Primary School who wrote,“Thank you so
much for your invaluable contribution towards our very successful
Electrifying ScienceWeek at Handsworth Primary School.The
children and staff had an amazing time!”