INNOVATION March-April 2014

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The sidelines are crowded with team members waiting to be called into action. Smiles line their faces and the faces of the parents beside them as they all cheer on their team. Among the cheers, one distinct cry rings out: “Let’s go Four Radicals!” No, this isn’t a soccer game or hockey match, this is the 2014 APEGBC Science Games. The 3 rd Annual Science Games kicked off National Engineering and Geoscience Month on Saturday, March 1 at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and Museum of Vancouver. Despite expanding registration again this year to include 160 students, space for this event filled up just over one month after registration opened. Students were divided into Division 1 teams, which were comprised of students in grades 1 – 3, and Division 2 teams, with students in grades 4 – 6. The Division 2 take home activity was a particular hit: Teams were given one month prior to the event to create a treasure hook collector, using only the materials provided. At the Science Games, team members took turns operating their treasure hooks, trying to collect as many pieces of treasure—or in this case, butterfly clips—as possible. In addition to the take home activity, each division also participated in two mystery activi- ties. Instructions for the mystery activities are only given out on the day of the event and teams have a limited amount of time available to complete the task. This year, Division 2 teams participated in Slo-Mo Plinko, where they had to create a course for a ping pong ball to travel through using only a peg board, wooden dowels and elastics, and Protect Your Melon, where teams were asked to create a helmet that would protect a melon from cracking when dropped from various heights. There was an added level of difficulty to this challenge as teams had to make a decision about what materials they wanted to use and take the cost of the materials into consideration for their design. For the Division 1 take home activity, teams created a bird house for a bird native to BC; this meant researching their birds to decide what characteristics their bird house would need to best suit that species. The Division 1 mystery activities included Radioactive Recovery, where teams had to build a set of tools that could transport the “radioactive” ping pong balls across a room from the nuclear plant to the disposal site, and Race Through a Sloped Course, where teams worked together to create the fastest course possible for a ping pong ball through various fixed points on the board. Members of the Burnaby/New Westminster, Sea-to-Sky, Tri-City and Vancouver Branches volunteered at the Science Games as judges for the various take home and mystery activities. APEGBC thanks BC Hydro, Fortis BC, Klohn Crippen Berger and Stantec for sponsoring this event and making it possible to engage even more aspiring engineers and geoscientists this year. The Science Games is an interschool event organized by APEGBC as part of National Engineering and Geoscience Month. The goal of this event is to provide a fun and interactive environment where students are able to showcase their scientific talent and promote interest in science education and careers in scientific fields. For more information, visit apeg.bc.ca/science-games. Students Get Hooked on Science at the 2014 Science Games Chelsea Smith

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Photos by Wendy D Photography