Emily Watters (second from right) and fellow Western Cape College science students produced great results at the RACI titration competition in Cairns recently. Photo: Supplied.
Budding scientists from Western Cape College (WCC) are celebrating great results at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) titration competition at James Cook University (JCU) in Cairns.
Six of the school’s highest-performing Year 10 STEM students were selected to compete individually and in teams of three.
Team one from WCC placed second out of 12 teams at the event, and student Emily Watters placed second individually out of 36 participants.
Year 10 STEM teacher Brock Lowrey explained individual scores were combined to get the overall team scores.
“I’m very much about collaborative learning and students working together to achieve their results,” he said.
“Even though they take individual scores and add them together to give you a team score, other schools tend to compete individually and do their own things.
“I was proud to see our girls helping each other out [and] rinsing each other’s glassware; it was a team effort that got us to achieve where we were, rather than working individually.”
Mr Lowrey explained the titration competition’s aim was to determine the concentration of an unknown acid as accurately as possible, which is achieved by following proper scientific procedures and using measuring equipment precisely.
“On the day, Emily got to a concentration within three decimal places of what the correct answer was, so it was really accurate, with only small errors,” he said.
Mr Lowrey said although Ms Watters produced the most accurate results, the other team members had to perform “exceptionally well” for the Weipa group to score as highly as it did.
“The other two students would have comfortably been in the top 10,” he said.
“I find that if you bring three heads together, you get better results, because their strengths and weaknesses all balance out.
“If they do move into jobs in the STEM industry, they’ll be doing lots of group work and it’s excellent they are developing those skills.”
Ms Watters said the experience at JCU has further ignited her passion for chemistry.
“It felt pretty amazing to place that high, because we were against Year 12s as well,” she said.
“It was really cool to see the university and I’m totally excited to go to [there] and study science in the future.”
The girls from WCC showed incredible teamwork, a skill necessary for a future in STEM. Photo: Supplied.
