2022 Science Symposium

Over 200 of our Year 7 and 8 Boys’ School students took over the Science Area of the new Specialist Facilities for a day, taking turns to share findings from their scientific investigation for the school’s annual Science Symposium.

This year our boys were encouraged to select a project that they are passionate about to research, explore and share. Each of these projects followed a scientific method focusing on fair testing. Students worked through a line of investigation and from the tests, they form their own conclusions.

Much time was spent at the start to come up with a topic that resonated with them. The boys then proceeded to identify their aim, variables that needed to be tested, conducted the necessary trial or tests before developing their hypothesis. In the process, the boys’ identified their method of testing, gathered data, analysed, and interpreted their results and then drew their conclusion – clearly stating if it supported or disproved their hypothesis before evaluating their procedure.

This year’s Science Symposium showcased 37 projects which were shortlisted from the best 2-3 projects from each of the Year 7 and 8 classes. The weeks of preparation allowed the boys to deepen their knowledge on the chosen topic and the results of their hard work were evident as they confidently shared what they had learnt and responded to questions asked with ease. The selected boys shared their ideas across multiple sessions at the Science Symposium with parents and Middle School students moving around the different stations that were set up.

Principal Peter Cassie explained that the Science Symposium is an amazing opportunity for the boys to get into investigative work. “I’m impressed by the quality of our boys’ presentation, which gets better and better every year. Science is critical in boys’ education. We want our boys to question what is happening in the world around them, we want them to understand problems the world is facing and think of solutions for them. We want our boys to think how they can make a difference.”

From the Science Symposium, a total of 15 projects were selected for the NIWA Science Fair.