A team of third-grade students at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy qualified earlier this month as one of the top 10 elementary teams in an innovative, local science and engineering competition called Battle of the Brains, earning $2,500 for the school. The Burns & McDonnell Foundation and Science City are sponsoring partners in this educational competition to create the best idea for a new exhibit at Science City. The winning group of students will earn the opportunity to create their exhibit with architects and engineers from Burns & McDonnell, a top engineering design firm headquartered in Kansas City. The top team in each age division will win $50,000 for their schools.
The initial qualifying score for the team’s proposal was decided by a panel of contest judges. Once the judges chose the top teams, students, teachers and families at HBHA, supported by members of the Kansas City Jewish community, voted online for “One World One Well.” The many online votes they received between Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 account for 30 percent of the team’s final score in determining if HBHA’s exhibit will be chosen for Science City.
(The final results of the Battle of the Brains were to be announced yesterday, Nov. 20, at Union Station. The Chronicle will publish those results in the Nov. 28 issue.)
Under the guidance of Vickie Sisco, HBHA’s gifted education facilitator, third grade students Aviva Clauer, Annie Fingersh, Judah Schuster and Roman Katz worked together to propose an exhibit they would like to see at Science City. These students initially chose to make their exhibit about fountains because of their love of fountains and the abundance of them around Kansas City. After doing some research on water, they gained insight into the global lack of clean water.
“We decided to have our exhibit because [clean water] is a big sustainability problem,” said Judah, age 8. To help combat this problem, the team proposed an interactive exhibit called “One World One Well.”
If chosen as the first place winner, “One World One Well” would educate Science City visitors on ideas about the world’s water supply, water movement with the Archimedes’ screw, forces at work with water in motion, water conservation/sustainability and new technologies in the field. The Archimedes’ screw is a machine used to move water for purposes of irrigation. The exhibit will feature an interactive fountain, touchscreen games and an opportunity to learn about the motion of water.
The team of HBHA students submitted their proposal to the Burns and McDonnell Foundation in late October. When they learned a few weeks later that their idea had been chosen as one of the top 10 ideas in the elementary category, they were beyond thrilled.
“We were really excited,” exclaimed Aviva, age 9. “I was wearing my mood ring and it was green, so I was really excited!”
Teacher Vickie Sisco said competing in Battle of the Brains was an amazing experience for these young students. She wanted the students to participate in the project because it “was really designed well.” She added, “I knew I had to do it with one of my classes.”
The students really enjoyed competing in Battle of the Brains, as well. When asked if they would want to participate in this competition again, all four students responded with an enthusiastic “yes!”
Elana Goldenberg is a sophomore at HBHA.
