On the morning of Tuesday, May 21st, 2019, all of the S level 8th grade science students, along with their respective science teachers, gathered in the Primary Auditorium for the annual Science Bowl. Because 8th grade science covers taxonomy, the purpose of this competition is to test students’ knowledge about a wide variety of animals found in every corner on earth.

The first round consisted of multiple choice and true/false questions asked to each team consecutively with teams given only 15 seconds to respond. After the end of the first round, the points were roughly tied between the teams.

Students seem to have found the last round to be the hardest. In this round, two students from each team were given 3 minutes to guess as many animals as possible. Students found it difficult to describe a variety of animals, and all of them used both “passes” they were given during the 3 minutes. Audience members expressed their passionate frustration as they watched their team members struggle to describe an animal.

Upon the final tally, it was revealed that Mr. Martin and Ms. Maggie’s class were tied for total points. A final, 1-minute lightning round was offered to those two classes. Students were only given 1 minute to describe as many animals as possible. Mr. Martin’s class won. When the competition ended, popsicles and ice cream were handed out to the winning team. All of the students, many left with a combination of both excitement and frustration, then left for the cafeteria to eat their lunches. They learned a lot during the Science Bowl.

(Written by Michael Martin Bruce     Pictures by Huiyi Jin)