21 Awards for Boys’ School at NIWA Science Fair

Following on from the Boys’ School Science Symposium early in Term 3, a group of Year 7 and 8 boys were selected to present their science projects for judging at the NIWA Auckland Science and Technology Fair. For the second year running, Covid-19 restrictions required all participants to submit their projects digitally rather than in person, with interviews with the judges taking place via Zoom.

Once again, our boys excelled and dominated the competition, picking up two First Place positions, three Second Place and two Third Place in five categories. We were delighted that 22 boys were recognised for their outstanding work, with eight of their projects singled out for Special Prizes and a further six projects marked highly commended.

Raymond Mallin was awarded First Place in the Technology category with his project, ‘Autumn’s Gold.’ Raymond had investigated using dried, fallen oak leaves, combined with natural products to make an efficient and effective fire starter. He found that combining natural beeswax with ground leaves produced a more effective fire starter than commercially available options.

In the Physical World category, Tom McCulloch was also awarded First Place for ‘Breaking Bridges.’ Tom set out to find which truss bridge design could bear the most weight, concluding that the ‘K-truss’ bridge design held the most weight on average.

Second placed Nelson Meachem (Is Fuller Faster, Physical World) experimented with fuller or flattened sails to determine which sailed best in moderate conditions. Also Second, Liam Dowling (Greased Lightning, Physical World) investigated which boat bow shapes are the fastest, discovering the dish washing liquid was an effective propellent on his models. George McGuinness (To Mulch or not to Mulch, Living World) earned Second Place researching which recyclable mulch material retained most water.

Third Placed George Hill (The Power of Nuts, Material World) investigated which nuts produce the most energy (hazelnuts and brazil nuts), whilst fellow Third Placed student, James Murphey (Stress Test, Human Behaviour) tested whether physical stress or mental stress has a greater effect on heart rates.

As always there was a diverse range of imaginative projects displayed for the judges to ponder but the winning projects were selected on the basis of their rigour to carry out repeated scientific measurements, fair testing, analysis of the results, returning to reflect on the hypothesis and taking into account any experimental error.

Well done boys!