St Benedict’s School science labs buzzed with scientific discovery as all pupils in Year 8 presented their projects to over 150 younger children from local junior schools at the school's annual Science Fair.
Pupils had been working on their projects in biology, chemistry and physics lessons for several weeks, devising and conducting experiments, and carefully recording their results and conclusions. They all enthusiastically explained their methods and findings to the visiting junior school children, who had an opportunity to visit over 40 science stalls set up across nine labs.
The younger children enjoyed some hands-on participation, asked lots of questions and found out about a wide variety of scientific topics such as: Can you charge your phone with fruit? (yes!); Do video games affect your reaction time and cognitive ability? (not necessarily); Does the colour of food affect its taste? (yes); Is there a link between gender and colour preference (no) and What do fizzy drinks do to your teeth?
Sarah Marais, the Fair's organiser and Biology teacher at St Benedict's, said: ‘The Science Fair was an opportunity for our Year 8 pupils to investigate a topic which interested them. The task was to design a test, conduct their investigations and present their results to visitors. The projects ranged from constructed wind turbines to the chemistry of setting gelatine. The pupils had prepared a hypothesis, identified variables and tested them in the most quantifiable way possible and their presentations were fascinating!’
