submitted by Erin Clary
On Saturday, March 7, a team of five Berlin Middle School students as well as a team of five Berlin high school students competed in the regional Science Bowl at General Electric Global Research in Niskayuna.
The high school team won three matches in their academic trivia contests defeating Albany Academy, Schenectady High School and Mohanasen High School.
The middle school team won two matches of their academic trivia portion of the contest, narrowly losing a tie-breaker against Scotia-Glennville.
The middle school team also competed in a design portion of the competition. For a month leading up to the competition, students stayed after school and used their knowledge from their Math, Science and Technology classes to create a car that uses gravity to launch. The team created a light-weight car that uses a ramp and a 2-kilogram weight to set it in motion. Their design launched the car more than 10 meters in some cases, earning the team a place in the elimination round.
According to Berlin Technology Teacher Dawn Wetmore, the students benefit from participating in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) design process. They also benefit from being exposed to subject areas beyond what they’re currently learning in school.
In addition, STEM projects like these help students learn 21st century skills such as team work, communication and problem solving.
The Berlin Middle School team consists of: Matt Brown, Gretta Herman, Cayla Hungerford, Maxwell Lockett and Benjamin Stewart.
The Berlin High School team consists of: Keel Krumenacker, Collin Love, Matt Moran, Travis Riccardi and Tim Shupe.
