Pupils at Star College Primary School in Bridgetown took part in a school science competition last week, creating displays and models to demonstrate the real-world application of their ideas.
The Grades 4 to 7 pupils had to explain how their models worked and make presentations to their peers and teachers. The teachers will select the top-three projects this week.
The top three will be entered into the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, said science teacher Naseerah Hendricks. The regional competition will take place at UCT on Tuesday and Wednesday August 22 and 23.
“They were very excited about this project but also nervous because they haven’t done something like this before. Lots of hard work went in by both the pupils and their families. They are really proud of themselves,” Ms Hendricks said.
Grade 7 pupils Jowwaad Sheik Hameed and Imaad Abader made a can crusher so that more cans could go into bins and reduce litter at the school.
“We didn’t want cans to lie around at school and thought that it would be better if we can crush them and throw them in the bin,” said Jowwaad.
“It was easy to make it. It took about week to make. I love the model and really enjoyed making it. We hope to implement it at school. The only challenge is that you need a lot of strength to pull it down to crush it.”
Riaz Limbada, from Grade 7, made a model showing how different colours of light affect plants.
“It was easy to make it, although I had to ask my father for help with the wiring. It took about seven days to make it,” he said.
Grade 7 pupil Faraaz Allie’s project, “Magnets: The wheel of the future”, incorporated a pyramid structure that showed the power of magnets, and he used two magnets to create a model of a floating car.
“It was easy to make the pyramid, I used a lot of material available in the house. It took me about four hours to do it. The floating car was much harder: I had two failed attempts so I did some research and then made the model again, which came out right.
“I enjoyed it because I got to research a lot and learnt new things about magnets I didn’t know. I am so happy with the finished product.”