Once again, our Year 7&8 scientists at the Girls’ School were well rewarded for their entries in this year’s NIWA Auckland Science and Technology Fair. For the second year running, Covid-19 restrictions required all participants to submit their projects digitally rather than in person, with interviews with the judges taking place via Zoom.

The quality of our girls’ projects were rewarded with two top First placings and two Third places. We were delighted that eight girls were recognised for their outstanding work, with six of their projects singled out for seven Special Prizes and a further four projects marked Highly Commended!

Placed First in the Human Behaviour category, Ava Van Rij’s project ‘Noise’ pondered the question of whether additional noise could impede concentration and the ability for students to focus or perform in routine maths tasks or questions. Her project was also awarded two Special Prizes. Awarded First place in the Research category, Harper Buchanan’s project, ‘To ski or not to ski’ researched various data sets regarding good snow days to find the optimum day for skiing. Following her study, she proposed a design for an app for the perfect snow day. Harper was also rewarded with a Special Prize.

In Third place, Emily Cornaga (Is It All Hot Air? Physical World) carried out a comprehensive test on two materials and how they dry in various test conditions. Emily also received a Special Prize, as did Amie Hilliam (Bake, Time and Temperature. Food Science) who designed a fair test to compare the rising and quality of cupcakes. She compared the amount of time and the temperature of baking to produce the perfect cake. Amie also received a Special Prize.

Girls’ School specialist Science teacher, Mrs Jess Francis said, ‘The success of our girls’ projects was helped by prior emphasis on fair testing in earlier studies in science; attention to detail; and reinforcing statistics and the manipulation of data in Maths during Term 2.  The girls use feedback to improve their experimental design, improve their accuracy, and they constantly seek help to improve their analysis of data and interpretation of results. In addition, our girls have a noticeable underlying confidence, acquired through the years of creating and delivering speeches – which prepared them well for interviews with the judges. Our consistent distance learning delivery via Teams meetings during Lockdown also helped allay any nerves when meeting the judges online for the first time for interviews.’

Well done girls!

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• Science

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