Budding Scientists Showcase at Science Fair
A group of Elementary school students proudly presented their science experiments during the January WEP Science Fair. Eias and Eleni from Grade 5 and Rowan, Zahra, Zainab, Jon and Hamza from Grade 4 were selected to share their home-school collaborative science projects. Rowan, Zahra and Zainab presented research on “How we can make earthquake-proof buildings”. Their hypothesis was that adding more weight to the bottom and adding cross braces to the building would create earthquake-proof buildings. Jon and Hamzah were interested in languages. Because they live in a multilingual community, they wanted to know if those people who spoke many languages were better at maths and logic than those who spoke fewer languages. Eias presented electromagnets, examining how to make a magnet stronger or weaker. This was something he wanted to learn more about and share this with others. Eleni presented The Balloon Inflator, with a hypothesis “that if I mix vinegar and soda I think it will produce gas and blow up the balloon.” All the students echoed Rowan and Hamzah’s comments - that they were very proud of what they had made and to be selected to represent the school. Jon said “It was a pleasure to have a chance to present at WEP that was something I always wanted to do”, whilst Rowan echoed everyone’s excited that “WEP was a chance to share with everyone” All the students had prepared their experiments to share first at school and then once select at WEP. For Rowan, Zahra and Zainab there were three weeks of preparation, and some adult assistance in the form of Dad making the earthquake table and together building the spaghetti tower. The hard part was waiting through Winter break to actually present, as they were very excited and ready to present their experiment. Jon and Hamza spent many hours over the winter break preparing and gathering their data, preparing posters, “handling all the data from 70 plus people” was the hard part according to Jon. Although the WEP experience was tiring it was also a motivation to keep going. Rowan, Zahra, and Zainab counted over 110 people visiting their table. Jon dreams big, since hearing he was going to present at WEP, he was ready to showcase his findings on stage in building 20 - he was ready for a big crowd. As for the future, the students are ready to go to the Science fair next year but have no specific projects yet. In the words of Rowan “Kids can make a big difference in the world as adults”. By Vivien Sewell, GES Librarian Photos by Chye de Ryckel, GES Associate Principal
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