Superhero, Star Wars fans and science whizkids were awarded prizes in the second edition of the Superheroes in Science Project Contest held on December 1, as part of the Superheroes & Star Wars in Science event held at Esplora Interactive Science Centre.
The aim of the project is to promote STEM among students between the ages of eight and 14 through the universe of superheroes and Star Wars. This year’s edition brought together students from different schools to share their creative ideas and their love for science and fiction. Students had the opportunity to create Star Wars-related science projects. There were three winning science projects this year.
Sarah Pace and Emma Aquilina from San Anton School created a science project entitled ‘Investigating the Strength of Thor’s Hammer’. They designed an experiment to find which metal would be most suited for Thor’s famous hammer. The students also calculated the impact velocity.
Jimmy Jay Chev Welsh, from St Theresa College, Birkirkara Primary, presented ‘Baking Soda Volcano’, a project which simulated a volcanic lava flow and which was comparable to DC Comics’ character Volcana, one of superman’s villains.
Amy Chircop, Kailey Mallia and Lara Giordmaina from St Ignatius College, Qormi San Gorg Primary School presented another winning project, ‘Weather Wonders’. The student team researched the weather formations while combinging them with three superheroines who can control weather – DC Comics’ Sarah Rainmaker, Marvel Comic’s X − Woman Storm and DC’s Justice League member Red Tornado. Each student focused on cloud formation, lightning and tornadoes as natural phenomena, presenting three experiments to simulate these weather effects.
The students presented their projects and answered questions from the public during the Superheroes & Star Wars in Science event.
The Superheroes in Science project team is inviting Year 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 students, with a keen interest in superheroes and science, to submit science projects as part of the Superheroes in Science Project 2020. In this competition students can connect their knowledge of science for e.g.: animals, insects and plants with the world of superheroes, supervillains and Star Wars or create their very own science hero and win various prizes.
Each participant will receive a participation certificate to hang in their class or room. Submitted projects can be in the form of an experiment, a model or a visual presentation, for example, a comic-styled information chart, accompanied by a project report.
Students can participate individually or as a team of a maximum of three students. Each individual or team can represent either the school or an NGO (such as scouts, girl guides, clubs, etc). Participation is free and on a voluntary basis. More information related to the 2020 project and guidelines for teachers and parents, is available at http://superheroscience.info/.
This year’s edition was supported by Air Malta, Virtu Ferries, Toyland and Agenda Bookshop.