SCIENCE OLYMPICS
They were among 1,200 students from across the province who took part in the APEGA Science Olympics, this spring. Besides Edmonton, events were held in Calgary, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, and Peace River. The APEGA Science Olympics takes learning beyond the classroom, testing the ingenuity and critical thinking skills of kindergarten-to-Grade-12 students. Working in small teams, students are encouraged to think beyond their everyday worlds to solve engineering and geoscience challenges. In Lloydminster, for example, Grade 9 students were tasked with building electromagnets using a wooden dowel, an aluminum peg, two steel nails, insulated and uninsulated copper wire, and a D-cell battery. Not only did they learn about series and parallel circuits, the 74 students learned that to succeed, they needed to cooperate and communicate. In fact, APEGA
THROUGH THE AGES Top Calgary students in the division for Grades 1-3 make some high-pitch and low-pitch noise. Bottom Left Calgary students in the division for Grades 4-6 face their judge in the tower-and-bridges category. Bottom Right High school students in Red Deer, at the Central Alberta Branch APEGA Science Olympics, attempt to build a freestanding structure with provided supplies — strong enough to hold a marshmallow.
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