MSA Hosts Students For STEAM Olympics

Mount Saint Agnes [MSA] hosted their annual science competition for primary and middle school students on Saturday.

The competition has been renamed the STEAM Olympics and introduced a new artistic element. The event hosted 22 teams of children between the ages of eight and 13 from both public and private schools and science clubs. Each team competed in four different hands-on activities that tested their science, technology, engineering, art and math [STEAM] skills.

All schools and clubs offering science education at a primary or middle school level were invited to enter teams, and a total of 110 children participated this year. The competition comprised of four events, one of which was a preplanned activity that the children prepared for prior to the event. To ensure that the competition remained fair the groups were split into two divisions; Years 5 and 6 and Years 7 and 8.

Students taking part in the Duct Tape Boat Challenge at the MSA STEAM Olympics

Principal, Sue Moench, commented “It is a joy to watch the children work together and problem solve through educational activities that are also a lot of fun. MSA created this event in 2012, and every year it has evolved and grown to include more schools and clubs from across the island.

“This year we introduced an art activity to ensure that the event incorporated all STEAM subjects, and challenged the students’ creativity and artistic talent. The wonderful thing about this kind of educational activity is that it teaches core subjects as well as important life skills such as problem-solving, teamwork and critical thinking.”

Activities included a Duct Tape Boat Challenge, where students had to use one roll of duct tape, three popsicle sticks, one-metre stick and a pair of scissors to create a boat and the winner was the one that could hold the most weight when floating in water. Another activity called the Mirror Challenge tasked students to think of words with three or more letters that could be read upside down in a mirror [i.e. COOK].

Once each activity was completed a panel of 13 judges marked each team’s effort and the scores were tallied up. The overall winners of each category were:

Art Display:

• Division 1 Somerset Primary “ The Busy Bees”
• Division 2 BZS Science Club “ The Trumpetfish”

Division 1

• 1st MSA “The Somebodies”
• 2nd Saltus “The Saltus Knights”
• 3rd Saltus “Super Saltus Scientists”
• HM: Elliot Primary “The Elliot Eagles”

Division 2

• 1st Saltus “The Saltus Knights”
• 2nd BZS Science Club “The Trumpetfish”
• 3rd MSA “Saints”

STEAM Olympics organizer, Charlene White, said “The event is growing year on year in terms of the amount of students involved. We are grateful to all of the teachers and teacher coaches, judges, staff members and volunteers for their participation and for helping to make sure the day ran smoothly The children had a great day.”

This year’s participants included teams from:

• BCCL, Bermuda Center for Creative Learning
• BHS Secondary
• BZS Science Clubs
• Elliot Primary
• MSA Elementary and Middle School
• Northlands Primary
• Purvis Primary
• Saltus Primary and Secondary School
• Somerset Primary
• Warwick Academy Primary

#Education #GoodNews #MountSaintAgnesAcademy #ScienceFair

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