YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College

Science is related to our daily lives.  By studying Science, students can understand the cause and effect relationships through experimental activities, and most imporantly, Science can develop students' critical thinking and analytical skills.  In order to arouse their interests, our Science teachers organized an exciting Science Week during 14th May and 18th May for them.  During the week, different student-oriented experimental activities including Experiment Sessions, Science Knowledge Competition, DNA Extraction and Movie Admiration were launched.

All in all, the Science Week turned out to be a great success. Not only did the students engage in different activities, they demonstrated spontaneity to learn the mechanisms and reactions behind.  In the forthcoming future, similar Science activities with more vivid content will be introduced to arouse the students’ curiosity, and later helping build up their logical and critical thinking at different areas. 

Here are some highlights over different activities during Science Week.

Egg-dropping Competition

On the first day, an egg-dropping competition kicked off the science week.  Students were able to apply what they have learnt from Integrated Science about gravity and air resistance into practice. 10 groups of students brought along their beautiful designs to the competition and were eager to bring the prize for most precise landing and best design home. Two rounds of competition took place, with 4 teams unfortunately cracked their eggs.  In the end, 2H (LIMBU Nisham, NG Tsz Lam, TANG Hau Kiu, HOTCHANDANI Sneha) won the prize for the most precise landing, whereas 2Y(YOO Seung Hun, YU Stephen Jr Prejola, RESHMI Bhumika, PUN Chiela Mae, VERGARA Jr. Manuel C.) won the prize for the best design.  The students showed incredible creativity in designing both the parachute and the landing apparatus.  It was also interesting to see the strategies students adopted in order to stream-line their design and fight against the wind.      

Science Knowledge Competitions (F.1 & F.2)

On 14th May and 15th May, there were Science General Knowledge Competitions for F.1 and F.2 students. Three student representatives from each class were nominated to participate in these competitions. The competitions were even more exciting than we expected, especially in the second part the class representatives ran out to press the button in order to get the turn to answer the questions.  All classes performed really well and did a great job!

The final results of the competitions are as follows:

Experiment Sessions

For Chemistry, three stimulating and attractive experiments were conducted in the playground and Chemistry laboratory.  Students were able to observe a physical process called Sublimation and understand the acidic nature of Carbon Dioxide by putting few blocks of dry ice into beakers of water with indicator.  Lots of students were attracted and would like to ‘touch’ and ‘feel’ the effervescence. 

Another interesting experiment called ‘Elephant’s Toothpaste Experiment’ was also performed. By mixing certain chemicals and paint together, woo…, a long colourful elephant’s toothpaste started to splash out!         

Water Rocket Competition

For the next stage of competition, the water rocket competition was launched.  All F.2 classes participated in the event.  Students enthusiastically designed water rockets which incorporated outlook view and aerodynamics calculations.  Materials used including plastic bottles, paper cones, paper straps.  Recycling materials concept and collaboration between classmates were learnt from students throughout. “Hurray ! Wow ! Yay on track !” were expressed from F.2 students and cheering from fellow schoolmates.  This water rocket competition serves as a fruitful and fun event throughout.  F.2A class won the furthest distance award and prizes were awarded.           

DNA Necklace Workshop

During science week, two DNA necklace workshops were held after school.  The aim for the workshop was to arouse students’ interest in studying Biology by providing a fun and interesting biotechnology training.  There was an over-subscription for the workshop with more than 60 junior form students signing up for the workshop during lunch time.  In the workshop, students learnt how to extract their own DNA from their mouth cavities using a safe and non-invasive method.   

Students enjoyed both learning the theory and the biotechnology practical skills in the workshops. At the end, using their artistic talent together with the lab skills, every student was able to create their very special unique DNA necklace. 

It was an unforgettable experience to share among our students!