By Ivy Hua
On Tuesday January 19th, 2021, Luwan BC students welcomed the long-awaited science challenge. The challenge was made up of three parts: the strongest structure challenge, the potato chip ring experiment, and the roller coaster building exercise. All students from three grades were still divided into the traditional six teams of LWBC to participate in the challenge.
First, the science challenge started with the strongest structure challenge and the bonus activity– the potato chip ring experiment. Each team needed to split their members into two parts and do two challenges simultaneously. The strongest structure challenge had students use drinking straws to make a free-standing structure. Then the team with the structure that had the best ratio of strength to number of straws wins. The orange team had a very strong structure. They used a lot of straws and made them into a circle. In the end, the circle bore the weight of at least 10 books. In the final weighing session, their work was able to hold about 20kg of objects. What amazing work!
But the potato chip ring challenge tested the students’ operating ability even more. It’s not easy to make a perfect circle out of potato chips. Some of the students searched the Internet for tutorials, and some of them discussed and brainstormed together. In both of these activities, everyone demonstrated their ability to work as a team.
And then, all the students did the roller coaster building exercise together. Each team used drinking straws and a hot-glue gun to build a creative roller coaster that can transport a ping pong ball from start to finish. The group who had the most creativity would win the activity. The students had a heated discussion about how to make the roller coaster the most interesting and creative. In the end, we saw some imaginative roller coasters. The yellow team used two structures to show off their roller coaster. Although the ping pong balls had a low probability of passing through these two parts without error, the building was still a good example of the creativity of the yellow team.
The science challenge was interesting for all LWBC students because it allowed them to show not only their creative thinking, but also their good hands-on skills. Most importantly, the students learned the importance of teamwork through this activity. This challenge would not have been successful without a group discussion, thinking and reflection!