Volume 30 Issue 26 27 Aug 2021 19 Elul 5781

Science Week

Jennifer Selinger – Head of Science, STEAM Coordinator and Timetable Coordinator

Long Distance Science Week

Science Week. The pressure has been building in the Science staffroom. Plans have been laid. Resources have been bought, extracted from the prep-rooms and organised by Ms Hunter to the last detail. Running sheets have been produced. Roles have been allocated. Monday arrives … and the first email goes out to the students. It is a time for crowds of students racing around the school in search of hidden objects. Or frantically building something to satisfy this year’s design challenge. A time for Elephant’s Toothpase and liquid nitrogen icecream … but not this year!

In weird circumstances, weird tasks are needed. Day One of Science Week 2021 saw avid pancake flipping using my favourite pikelet recipe as scientist-chefs cooked up some organ pancakes. What the activity lacked in numbers it more than made up for in creativity and I have to admit I was overly proud of my own efforts in this regard (see the accompanying photos!). Day Two involved searching the house and surrounds for a variety of random items in the Scavenger Hunt. There were a number of entries to this one – congratulations to Ashley Cohn and Alex Gellert who won the prizes for this activity … keep an eye on your letterboxes … it is still on its way!

Day Three was the DIY Science Show and Day Four brought Ms Selinger’s Secret Design Challenge. Building the tallest possible tower with nothing sticking it together provoked some discussion amongst my Year 11 Physics students! I also received a gorgeous video from Ms Minton of her children’s best efforts in this task. I’m pretty sure the tower was double their height before its inevitable collapse.

Then, as the week drew to a close, the Annual Maths/Science House Trivia Quiz began. With 50 participants, the competition was fierce. Rounds 1 and 3 involved the participants in contributing individually to a fast-paced Kahoot, with much discussion of the questions and some controversial answers. Round 2 was completed in House teams and the mathematical puzzles had some people snapping their fingers and others scratching their heads. In the end, after a hard fought match, Meir came out ahead, followed by Szenes with Rashi very close behind. The students participated with enthusiasm and good humour and I had a great time!

I have to say I missed the buzz of watching the excitement of students while we perform scientific wonders or challenging them to seemingly impossible challenges, however I hope that Science Week this year provided some moments of fun and provoked some thinking and planning. It certainly did for me!