This year, SKA held its own Science Olympiad on Tuesday, March 22, with over 34 students participating. The competition reflected how SKA students consistently apply their learning in a hands-on way. Students were paired up and competed against each other by completing different assignments or activities that demonstrated their knowledge of the material.
The Science Olympiad had seven important events, one for each Science discipline:
SKA students in Anatomy and Physiology with Mrs. La Zhong created models of muscles using clay and were asked to place them accurately on skeletons. Student participants were Dina Faye Bendel, Michal Greenblatt, Yakira Kret, Talya Lippman, Ruchy Reichman, and Brianna Swedarsky.
In Chemistry Lab with Dr. Neera Kimmel, girls created a mixture of oil, water, and plastic beads, and utilized a filtration funnel and a separatory funnel to isolate the respective components. They were tasked with assessing the percent error of these items. Student participants were Alexandra Freundlich, Kayla Goldberg, and Sari Gross.
The students in Mr. Andres Pabon’s Remote Sensing group wired up different types of sensors on a robot. Student participants were Elizabeth Naiman, Meira Norensberg, and Tamar Rabinovitz.
Dr. Salvatore Parrino’s students in Cell Biology used pipettes in order to separate mixtures and isolate DNA. Student participants were Shira Ellenberg, Mimi Feinberg, Atara Ginsburg, Meghan Gottfried, Rachel Hirt, Batya Kimyagarov, Avigail Nassir, Lea Septimus, and Aliza Tokayer.
Green Generation students of Ms. Rivka Hirsch used recyclable materials in order to design and build an insulated thermos. The students planned how to scientifically test their creations to see which would be a more effective heat insulator. Student participants were Farrah Crane, Elinor Malayev, Sari Roman, and Rachel Yadgarov.
The students of Mrs. Elizabeth Rosenfeld’s Ornithology group studied the habitat, food preferences, mating behaviors, and structure of each bird. They took an 18-question exam and then had to build a model of a particular bird out of styrofoam, pipe cleaners, and feathers. Student participants were Maya Hiller, Atara Teitelbaum, and Leah Yadgarov,
Mrs. Aviva Lifshitz’s Dynamic Planet students specifically learned about the properties of water, in particular the concept of buoyancy. They had to apply their knowledge of why certain objects float or sink when placed in water. Student participants were Cloe Dershowitz, Julia Holchendler, Atara Razi, and Avital Razi.
The SKA students enjoyed learning about their individual topics and racing against the clock to complete their respective event. Our thanks go to Dr. Salvatore Parrino for coordinating SKA’s Science Olympiad and to all the Science Department teachers for coaching the teams.