INNOVATION May-June 2012

c areer awarenes s

I t’s amazing the amount of fun a child can have with marshmallows, toothpicks and imagination— especially when you throw in some teammates and a bit of competition. This was more than evident at the first Annual APEGBC Science Games, held March 31 at the H R MacMillan Space Centre, Capping off National Engineering and Geoscience Month, the Science Games is an interactive science competition where teams of four to five school children work together to complete various science challenges. “It was a competitive

First Ever Science Games a Success Chelsea Smith

This team learns about structures as they build marshmallow and toothpick houses.

grades 1 to 3; and Division 2, made up of grades 4 to 6. Registration for this event filled up quickly with participants from schools and Girl Guide groups throughout the Lower Mainland. Overall, 60 students participated in the Science Games. Members of the Burnaby/New Westminster, Sea to Sky, Tri-City and Vancouver Branches volunteered at the Science Games as judges for the various take-home and mystery activities that the students participated in. Instructions for the take-home activities were given to teams one month in advance of the competition so they would have time to complete the task as a group and bring it to the Science Games for judging. “There was a real sense of learning in the activity as they got better and better,” said team leader Chandra Wu of her Division 2 team, the Awesome Possums. The team was challenged with building an elastic-band-powered car out of a materials kit provided by APEGBC. Their team decided to build a prototype out of a macaroni box and tested it to see what modifications allowed their car to travel the farthest distance prior to assembling their final model. At the event, teams had no information on what the two mystery activities would be until they arrived at the activity stations. The activities chosen for the Science Games were all geared towards science learning objectives identified in the elementary school curriculum. Division 1 teams took part in challenges to build foil boats, and marshmallow and toothpick houses. Division 2 teams were asked to build straw towers capable of supporting the weight of a juice box, and then tried their hand at creating a “flinker”—an object that doesn’t float or sink, remaining suspended in water for the longest period of time possible. APEGBC hopes to expand this event in future years to provide more students with the opportunity to experience science in a fun and engaging environment. “The more opportunities to do creative, group coordinated science, the more all the kids grow and develop actual practical scientific reasoning skills, and have fun doing it, so that by the time they’re in high school, science is fun, not something to avoid,” said Wu, “it’s fantastic! v

environment, but at the same time it was a collaborative environment,” said Dale Goudie PEng, who participated in the Science Games as a team leader for the Division 1 team, the Werewolves. Teams were broken down into two groups: Division 1 consisting of students from

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