How does water function as a moderator in a nuclear reactor? What is a mesoscale convective complex?
Teams of sixth, seventh and eighth graders engaged in a match of wits and speed by answering questions like these in the recent Middle School Science Bowl competition held at Argonne National Laboratory on February 7th and 8th, 2014. Nearly 20 middle school teams took part in the Jeopardy-style challenge to answer math and science questions. The event represented schools for the northern Illinois region, which includes western Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, Kane and Grundy counties.
First place went to the team from Daniel Wright Middle School, who will advance to the national competition on April 24th in Washington, D.C. The team included students David Liang, Conrad Oberhaus, James Wei, Haoyong Yu, Jeremy Yu and coach Sophia Capelli. Other schools receiving mention were Roosevelt in second place, Brooks in third place and Colin Powell in fourth place.
At the national level, the Daniel Wright team will also compete in the electric car design competition, where students build battery-powered cars and race them for best speed and performance.
For more information about Argonne’s many educational offerings and opportunities, visit the Educational Programs website.