St. Albert students will turn sound into sight this weekend as they put their skills to the test during the Science Olympics.
About 165 St. Albert and Morinville students will be at the University of Alberta’s Butterdome this April 7 for the 2024 Edmonton Science Olympics. The annual event challenges students to use their scientific skills to overcome real-life challenges set by members of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).
The Science Olympics are designed to get students interested in science and engineering careers, said APEGA outreach co-ordinator Elizabeth Tate. Some 1,200 Grades 1-12 students from the Edmonton region are taking part in this year’s event, or about twice as many as last year.
Science Olympians compete in a mix of take-home challenges (which they have three months to complete) and timed mystery events unveiled on the day of competition, Tate explained. Challenges are typically based on real-world science and engineering situations with direct connections to the school curriculum. APEGA members grade the solutions the student teams create, awarding them certificates and trophies if they meet the gold, silver, or bronze standard.
“This is a great opportunity to really showcase your creativity and work alongside teammates,” Tate said.
See the noise
About 33 teams from five St. Albert and two Morinville schools will be at this week’s Olympics, APEGA spokesperson Andrew MacKendrick said in an email. For their take-home challenges, Grade 4-6 students will have to build a raccoon-proof trash can, while Grade 7-9 teams will have to design an amphibious vehicle that can traverse a wetland to collect water samples. High school teams will have to construct a robotic arm that can pick up and move apples.
Elmer S. Gish teacher Melissa Zawaduk had three Grades 1-3 teams headed to the Olympics. Their take-home task was to build a device that could make sound waves visible.
“It’s going to be on top of a speaker,” she explained, and it has to distinguish between quiet and loud sounds.
Zawaduk said many of her students went with a membrane-based solution after watching videos on the science of sound. One group initially planned to use liquid paint to detect the sound waves, but decided that might be too messy.
“Thank goodness for my carpet,” Zawaduk added.
Student Riyad Haidar said he and the rest of Team Science Kids built a box out of recycled materials for their detector. Sound waves strike the detector’s wax-paper bottom and are transmitted to the top, which is made from stretchy plastic. When the waves hit the plastic, objects on top of it (lightweight paper squares, medium-weight cardboard, and heavy plastic caps) bounce. The lighter objects start bouncing when the sound is quiet, and are joined by the heavier ones as it gets louder.
“It was hard to keep the paper from falling out,” said teammate Cailin Godwin — they had to add a popsicle-stick fence around the top to contain the bouncing bits.
Zawaduk, who has been taking teams to Science Olympics for about 17 years, said the Science Olympics give science-loving students a chance to shine.
“I’m pretty optimistic we’ll end up with medals for all our teams.”
The Science Olympics run from 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. April 7 at the Universiade Pavilion (Butterdome) in Edmonton, and is free to observe. Visit www.apega.ca/educators-students/educators/science-olympics for details.
Discover more from Coursity
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.