Science Day experiments with new activities
Senior Ben Church conducts an experiment with science teacher Dr. Catherine Boothroyd in the background.
December 17, 2015
The Science Department held its third annual Science Day on Friday December 4, combining students from different levels of science classes to solve challenging problems and learn hands-on.
“We wanted to focus on the diligent collaboration between students and on the process of solving these problems, not so much on the final answer,” Department Head Frank Greally said. Part of the idea was to bring Science Day outside the classroom and offer students a different perspective on what science is.
“Students have to realize that science is all around them, not just in the class,” Greally said.
On average, science teachers have two to three classes throughout the day on Fridays, so the scheduling involved some creativity.
“We had to switch up the activities at lunch because the morning classes didn’t have enough time to complete as much as we planned to cover but the change helped a lot and worked well in the afternoon,” science teacher Eric Shear said.
Students measure the height of a bouncing ball as part of a physics experiment.
When Science Day started at Masters three years ago, it involved reading and discussing articles. Last year, students read and discussed articles but in a much more active way. This year, Science Day was a hands-on trial and error experience.
“Last year Mr. Shear and Dr. Boothroyd came up with the ideas for activities on Science Day, whereas this year we all worked as a group to decide on a few fun experiments,” physics teacher Dipti Dedhia said.
Shear thought it would be a great idea to do more with Science Day. “I came the first year it started and I new right away that it is a great idea that gives us teachers a chance to do things on a deeper level than we would be able to do in our classes,” he said.
The annual tradition of the Science Day celebration is set to continue next year, and teachers hope for it to evolve into something that goes beyond the classroom and further into everyday life.
Junior Owen Lieber said, “I liked Science Day more than class because it actually let us do some experiments and socialize with other kids instead of writing on paper.”
