While some adults might not know what the hair-like structures in the lungs are called, or if the lithosphere is above the mantle or the core of the Earth, local students raced to answer these types of questions at a competition two weeks ago.
About 40 students participated in the second annual Española School District Science Bowl, May 22, at Northern New Mexico College.
Abiquiú Elementary sixth grade teacher Barbara Becker, who organized the event, said nine teams of four students, from seven of the District’s 10 elementary schools, totaling 36 students, competed in the contest.
This year’s event tripled in size from last year, when three teams participated, Becker said.
She initiated the event to pique students’ interest in scientific fields.
“It’s really important to get the younger grades excited about science,” she said. “Kids love to compete and making it fun, we’ll inspire them to keep studying so that they have a goal.”
Becker founded the event last year after taking her students, who aspire to be statewide science bowl champions, to watch the Sandia National Laboratories Science Bowl in 2013.
The students naturally found the questions difficult, so she thought the District should have some training for them at their early level.
“I noticed the questions were very difficult and it was only open to middle school,” she said. “I thought it would really be a brilliant idea to get the kids excited in science. I thought, ‘Why don’t we open it up for the elementary level?’”
In the District Science Bowl, the teams face off in seven, 16-minute rounds, answering questions in elementary-level science.
They score four points with every correct answer and 10 points for every bonus question answer.
After the preliminary rounds, the teams’ scores in each round are added, and those with the four highest scores compete in the 16-minute semi-final round. The two top scorers participate in a final 16-minute showdown to name the winner.
Because the Science Bowl is open to fourth, fifth and sixth graders, the questions in the competition are based on the statewide science learning standards for those grade levels, Becker said.
Becker said the event encourages tighter school relationships Districtwide.
“It’s a way of connecting the schools for a yearly goal that is connected to their academic science work,” she said. “It also has a fun outcome and the kids are going to get something back.”
Abiquiú Elementary Principal Claudia Sena, who also helped plan the event, said the Science Bowl balances out the District’s plentiful sports extracurricular activities.
“I know we do a lot with sports in the District,” Sena said. “Having the competition here actually gives the students who have an interest outside of sports an opportunity to actually compete against other students. It’s a fun way of learning science.”
Teachers counted mostly on grants and sponsorships to budget for the event, Sena said.
They got a grant of about $1,000 to purchase buzzers and local businesses donated most of the food for the competition.
She said Sombrillo, Chimayó and San Juan elementaries did not participate because of school event conflicts.
Española Elementary had two teams in the Science Bowl. Principal Julé Skoglund said the competition serves her students well by preparing them for the statewide middle school competition.
“What they can do is familiarize themselves with the process, so when they get to middle school, they can actually compete in Albuquerque,” she said. “Every child has their (sic) own skills and own gifts, so those kids who are really gifted in science, this gives them the opportunity to be the shining star.”
Skoglund said the event raises students’ competitive spirit in a friendly way.
“It’s funny because we just had two teams from our school and they just finished competing with each other,” she said. “But, they were very supportive of each other and very encouraging. The winning team was saying, ‘Good job,’ to the other team.”
Abiquiú Elementary fourth grade student Robyn Garcia said she found the competition challenging.
“Some of the questions are hard and you kind of need to be in a rush to be at each round at the right time,” Garcia said. “It makes us learn more about science and it makes us want to rush to answer. You get to learn different things and you get to be in competition and win prizes. It’s just fun to learn more and see how smart the other schools are.”
Alcalde Elementary fifth grade student Trinity Ortega, a first-time science bowl participant, said the event pushes her to work toward her career goal.
“I want to become a teacher and teach science, actually,” she said. “It makes me learn more about science and how to teach better.”
Sena said in the future, administrators will try to hold the Science Bowl earlier in the year, to avoid conflicts with school field trips and other pre-scheduled events. This way, they can gain more participants.
“Our goal is to get all the elementary schools in the District to compete so it’s a true Science Bowl,” she said.