Posted on: July 1st 2016
On Thursday, 16th June, four very excited Year 5 children attended the Haileybury Science Challenge. We caught a taxi to Haileybury, which is a very beautiful school with enviable grounds. Once we had been welcomed, we were escorted to our first challenge in the Science Buildings. The Chemistry task required us to mix a chemical with different types of metal shavings and record the heat energy produced. We had lots of practise with working scientifically and had to measure really carefully using measuring cylinders, thermometers and scales. After all this brain work, we needed some energy so we walked all the way to the Dining Hall (it was far!) and got to choose a hot meal from a dizzying selection, as well as a delicious dessert.
Our second challenge was Physics and involved finding the best insulating material. Again, we had to plan our investigation carefully and follow the instructions, without any adult help! We did really well at this investigation, and the science that we’d done previously at school helped us greatly.
The final challenge was Biology and this was the most dramatic event of the day as we got to use a real flame to burn food in order to compare the amount of energy in a marshmallow, cracker and dried banana chip. It was incredibly exciting to feel like we were real scientists and we had to think carefully about our investigation techniques, such as taking into account the energy that was wasted due to the open environment we tested in.
At the end of the day, and after a spectacular show by the Head of Chemistry, the results were announced. We were not at all prepared for our school to be awarded second place out of 17 schools! We were extremely proud of ourselves for not only coming second, but also impressing our teacher with our cooperation skills.
Bring on next year’s Haileybury Challenge!
Daisy, Jaymin, Casper, Georgia, Form 5
