Graeme’s astronomy whizz-kids

Four Grade 7 Graeme College pupils recently took home first prize at the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) Astronomy Quiz finals, held near Bloemfontein at the Boyden Observatory.

Ten teams competed in the final, who had all survived four elimination rounds of the competition at different venues across South Africa. Accompanied by their Natural Sciences teacher, Vicki Campbell, the winning team consisted of Blaine Jacobs, Jarah Fluxman, Bryn Reynolds and Oluwatoyosi Adesina. Campbell explained that teams had to answer three rounds of 10 questions each, after which it was announced that there had been a three-way tie for second place.

"When Greame was not announced as one of these schools there was a lot of excitement – and even more nerves – as we knew we were either placed first or fifth," she said. The Graeme College team were newcomers to the competition, and many people were surprised when they were announced the winners.

They had also beaten the other teams by more than 10%. "All the boys felt like celebrities – everyone wanted to shake their hands and take their picture," Campbell proudly said.

The young scholars told Grocott's Mail about the different ways they prepared for the competition. Oluwatoyosi said his parents confiscated technological distractions from him like his phone, and only allowed him one hour on his computer per day before the competition. Jarah said he just studied for six hours over the weekends like he usually does. "I'm worried about next year if the Grade 6s will be able to maintain our standards" Jarah said.

Another thing that worried the young fellows was that some of the local private schools hadn't taken part in the competition. "We wanted to compete against all the private schools in Grahamstown and beat them" said Bryn. When the participating teams, consisting of four learners and one teacher each, arrived in Bloemfontein the night before the competition they were treated to an evening of entertainment and sky-watching at the Boyden Observatory.

The Astronomy Quiz is an initiative of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) aimed at Grade 7 learners, with the main aim of improving learning and teaching of astronomy at a primary school level.

This is also SAASTA’s contribution to the Department of Science and Technology’s Astronomy Month which is celebrated in October. This is the seventh year that the SAASTA has funded and co-ordinated the quiz. Since the first-ever competition in 2005 at the Sci-Bono Science Centre in Johannesburg, the annual Astronomy Quiz has become a favourite on the school science calendar, with more than 3 000 learners participating in 2010.