Twenty-nine Park Village students made it to the final round of the Science Bee. Today, they competed for the title Science Bee Champion. In a little over an hour, students answered 130 questions ranging from "What is the pH of a neutral solution?", to "What are two ways to make an electromagnet stronger?" (Answers are 7, and for the later, more coils or more voltage.)
With sweaty hands and anxious expressions students answered question after question showing off their impressive banks of knowledge. After today, I am convinced that very few people are smarter than these 5th graders!
These students competed because they love science. There was no grade attached, or required hours to study (many put tens of hours into it.) I am convinced more than ever, that students naturally love to learn and especially like to have a reason to do so.
The winning question was: What is a substance that speeds up a reaction called?
Answer: Catalyst
It was on the tip of your tongue, right?
Students learned about this in one of their previous chemical reaction labs entitled "Elephant Toothpaste" . Yeast (catalyst) sped up the reaction of hydrogen peroxide to water so quickly that the oxygen bubbles spilled out of the bottle looking like giant toothpaste!
Congratulations to all students who put forth the effort to learn about science, not because it was part of their grade, but because they wanted to.
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