On Nov. 24th, Grade 6 had a wonderful Science & History Carnival in their Youth Development class. Before the event started, each Grade 6 homeroom was set up as a history or science-related game booth, and students could take their Carnival passports in the first YD lesson and experience related activities to collect stamps in each classroom.

History is a new subject upon moving up to the 6th grade and students have gotten to know more about what history is and how to study it in the past two months. During the YD class, History teachers prepared 6 games for students to help them enjoy learning history by collecting stamps.

The pyramid building game in classroom of 6(1) attracted many students. The pyramids were not only built in Egypt, but also in Maya. The game was to build the pyramid for Kukulkan with 91 cups and place snake shadow on the steps. Students should calculate how many cups needed for each layer, build carefully with cooperation, and think about how to shape the snake. Extra stamps would be given to students who have made the snake shadow successfully.

How was culture, religion and education passed down throughout generations? Written record undoubtedly plays an important role. Do you want to write a message in pictographs, runes, or Hieroglyphics? In homeroom 6(9), students could try to write a secret message in different writing systems, such as Pictographs, Runes, Hieroglyphics and send it to their friends. If their friends decoded the message, they could win one more stamp.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has attracted attention from the world and so did the Mayan ball game in Grade 6. The Mayan ball game was played between two teams and is considered one of the oldest team sports in the world. In history, it was not played for enjoyment but to please the gods. It was also played instead of going to war. In our carnival, each team has 2-6 students. They used the hip, knee, or right elbow to hit the ball. If one team’s ball touched the ground, the other team would win the game. Students played the game with great enthusiasm.

Students also joined the wordsearch game about the Celts in 6(4), matched the Chinese relics with the 7 elements of civilization, guessed the historical figures, events, and buildings together with friends in 6(10). They applied knowledge learned in History class to win the games which tested their cooperation. The cheers rose in classroom consistently.

In addition to these interesting history games, several other classrooms gave the students a hands-on experience of the novelties and wonders of science with a wealth of knowledge and interesting experiments. The circuit construction game in 6(2) required students to build a circuit themselves based on the circuit diagram provided. The circuit diagram is usually made up of abstract icons representing the individual components and through practical exercises. Students recognised the connection between these icons and the circuit components, laying the foundation for more in-depth learning later. Activity in 6(5) enabled the students to travel around the classroom to learn about the achievements of each of the great scientists and then match them with their achievements to gain a better understanding of them. In 6(6), students sampled the bacteria around them and took the petri dishes home to continue to observe the changes in growth over the following week. Homeroom 6(11) provided microscopes for students to look at samples under the microscope and draw what they saw in the lens. 6(12)'s metal puzzle game also made the students excited to join in with their friends.

The 40-minute game time passed quickly. The students shuttled in and out of different classrooms and enjoyed the games very much. They used the historical and scientific knowledge and skills such as the source analysis abilities to collect stamps as more as possible, which made them feel accomplished and further encouraged them to be more excited about learning history and science.

In the second YD class, students returned to their respective classrooms to compete in an online science quiz as a group. Grade 8 students from the Science Academy service-learning group joined the classes and acted as hosts to give the younger students a new and exciting science jeopardy. Some of the questions were related to classroom knowledge, while others were interesting science or even unpopular knowledge. The students were fully engaged and gained a lot from the intense and orderly jeopardy. Under the wonderful hosting of the seniors, grade 6 students deepened their understanding of science, enhanced their interest in science, and cultivated a love of science and the spirit of exploring the unknown.

The Science and History Carnival came to an end with much laughter. We hope that the students will maintain their love for science and history in their future studies and let's look forward to the exciting activities of the next subject day!

Written by Liu Chen, Xu Qinyou

Pictures by Liu Chen, Grade 6 teachers

Supervised by Kelly Schroer

Edited by Serena Yang, Niall Keenan