St Andrews hosts 4th SAIS Eastern Seaboard Science Fair

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge” – Carl Sagan

On Thursday 5th February 2015 the 4th SAIS Eastern Seaboard Science Fair came to its dramatic conclusion. Students from seven international schools converged at St Andrews International School, Green Valley to battle it out for the fantastic prizes and the glory of winning the area’s largest academic competition.

Around 120 students from SAIS Green Valley, Concordian International School, Satit Udomseuksa, Garden International School, Regents, Tara Pattana and the International School Eastern Seaboard brought their exhibits and their scientific skills to be tested and judged. The variety of projects produced by the students was staggering and the judges were hard pressed to pick winners in each category.

Best in Show winner Matthew Beysen from St. Andrews.

The projects ranged in size and scope and covered all areas of science. The traditional areas of Chemistry, Biology and Physics were investigated with students looking at reactions between metals and different solutions, the growth of mould and the generation of electricity. This year also showcased a large number of projects that were investigating other areas of science such as animal behavior and psychology. The judges spent just over 3 hours talking to students about their projects and how they had used the ‘scientific method’ in order to choose the top three in each category.

The Bottle Rocketeer competition was a highlight.

Whilst the judging was happening, all students competed in a ‘Science Challenge’ – a range of tasks especially designed by the SAIS Green Valley Science team – to test the grey matter and teamwork skills of the competitors. Students were asked to build the tallest tower they could, out of straws and other bits and bobs, to support a bowl of water and to design a car powered by elastic bands – the students were randomly selected to work with those from other schools to further the idea of scientific collaboration. A lot of fun was had by all.

Lunch time provided yet more opportunities for students to demonstrate their scientific prowess. After a fine lunch, kindly provided by the SAIS Green Valley PTG, some students entered the ‘Bottle Rocket’ competition to see who could fly the furthest and beat the SAIS Green Valley record of 140m. This year saw entries from Year 5 students who did pretty well for their first rockets, flying over 110 meters. The competition was clearly won by the pro-team from Satit Udomseuksa, four of whom shot over the 120m mark, but still didn’t quite manage to beat the record.

While judging took place, students were set a challenge where they have to build a tower to support a bowl of water.

It was a fantastic day that highlighted that academic and scientific excellence, creativity and fun can all co-exist in one place. Congratulations go out to all the winners (all are listed below) and indeed to all the competitors, for it’s the taking part that really counts.

The real winner was ‘Science’ – the ability to take any idea and investigate it in a logical and scientific manner, to extrapolate thoughts and ideas from collected data and to identify and ameliorate any limitations – allowing students, the scientists of tomorrow, to showcase their talents, is what the SAIS Eastern Seaboard Science Fair is all about.

SAIS Green Valley would like to thank its Science Department for organizing the day, the ground staff for working tirelessly to setup the fair and of course our sponsors who kindly donated the prizes and without whom it would be impossible to run an event like this: ANCA, Pattaya Mail TV and the SAIS PTG.