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December 12, 2003/Kislev 17 5764, Vol. 56, No. 12
Friendly competition
Jewish day school students come together to show off science skills
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Zach Jost, a student at Pardes Jewish Day School, checks his clay boat full of marbles to see if it will float at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School's Science Field Day.
Photo by Tegwin Winterhalt
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It wasn't all fun and games at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School's first Science Field Day - but most of it was.
Nearly 200 students in grades four through eight from the Valley's Jewish day schools converged on the campus of the high school Dec. 4 for a day of science events. The day was planned in conjunction with a visit from Professor Brian Ber-kowitz of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Jess Schwartz students facilitated the events, which included both competitive and noncompetitive chal-lenges.
The Phoenix Hebrew Academy, Pardes Jewish Day School and The King David School each brought two teams of 12 students in grades six through eight to compete against the other teams in science competitions for ribbons and trophies.
Tobee Waxenberg, middle school director at Pardes, felt it was important to get all of the Jewish day school students together not just for a sports challenge, but an academic one.
"The kids took it seriously and had a lot of fun," she says. "It was a wonderful way for all of the students to see each other and get another feel for the high school."
Competitive events in-cluded Pentathlon, an outdoor relay in which teams of four students ran a five-part obstacle course, which included answering science questions.
"You have to have general knowledge because you have physical science, earth science, biology, chemistry and astronomy (questions). They would answer a different kind of question at each teacher station and then sprint for the line," explains Colleen Megowan, Jess Schwartz science teacher and coordinator of the event.
In Reflection Relay, students, in teams of three, had to reflect the light of a laser off of mirrors onto a target, avoiding various barriers.
"It's so interesting to listen to the teams and how they talk with each other. Team talk goes on in the really successful teams - when there's communication, there are great scores," says Megowan.
Mystery Powders required pairs of students to identify five white powders by their properties. Other competitive events were A Is for Anatomy, Map Reading, Don't Bug Me and Estimania.
After results were tab-ulated, an award ceremony was held, with a team from Pardes placing first, a team from the academy placing second, and the other Pardes team placing third. In addition to first-, second- and third-place ribbons being distributed for individual event, the overall winning Pardes team received medals and took home a trophy that they'll bring back to next year's competition.
Other students, including those from the Tri-City Jewish Community Center Day School, which does not have a middle school, participated in noncompetitive events such as Balloon Car Races, Egg Drop, Straw Towers, Measurement, Clay Boats and Picture This.
The Science Field Day was created by Megowan and fellow Jess Schwartz science teacher Vic Sampson.
When they were notified six weeks ago that the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science would be bringing Berkowitz to the school, Megowan says they tried to plan an event the students could participate in. Both Megowan and Sampson had experience with similar science events in previous positions in other cities - Megowan in Sacramento, Calif., and Sampson in Seattle. They patterned the events after the Elementary Science Olympiad, held annually by a group of Catholic schools in Sacramento.
Berkowitz, the Sam Zuckerberg Professorial Chairman of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research at Weizmann, conducted pre-sentations for both students and visitors throughout the day. He also visited with the students participating in the Science Field Day, and Megowan says the students enjoyed "talking to a real scientist about real science and being able to ask him anything they wanted."
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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