DUBAI // Pupils had to do some quick-thinking when set their tasks at the annual Inter School Science Challenge at Knowledge Village on Tuesday.
More than 400 pupils from Grade 6 to Grade 13 took part in The Emax Young Innovators 2013 science festival and challenge.
Many of the students said they had only received notice of the event a day or two beforehand and were still wrapping up end-of-term projects and writing final exams.
In teams of two or more, they were challenged to create a scientific exhibit or experiment in one of three categories – science collage, invention and innovation, or recycling.
The festival’s theme was “simply innovate” and also featured a 30-question science quiz.
“The whole idea here is one, to give them hands-on experience, build a healthy, competitive spirit and secondly, that they learn something,” said Reena Banerjee, founder and director of the host company, Big Idea.
“So they can do anything and be as creative as they wish.”
For some, crunch-time fostered simple but powerful problem-solving creations.
Using just a regular pen, tape and an empty bag of crisps, Grade 7 pupils Rohan Raman and Niraj Nandish, from J S S Private School in Dubai, came up with a type of stylus for smartphone or tablet computer users.
They inverted the cleaned bag and wrapped it around the top end of the pen, securing it in place with tape.
While one end of the pen still worked, Rohan flipped it over to demonstrate how the end with the chip foil could be used to animate touch screens.
“Static electricity passes through it and goes on the tablet, that’s how we can use it,” said Rohan, 12.
“It recycles the chip bags, so they don’t go to waste and it also saves people money because it works the same way as a normal stylus.”
Rohan said his device is a tweaked version of a common hack found online that suggests how users can convert regular pens into touchscreen pens.
“Usually, on the internet, they use foil and a sponge which is damp but this metal is better because you don’t have to dampen it every time,” he said.
Aayash Hegde and Rishon D’Souza, Grade 9 pupils at the Westminster School in Dubai, invented a cycle-powered phone charger.
Using a homemade circuit board and a dynamo, the two 14-year-olds were able to generate electricity by using friction that travelled from the back wheel of the bicycle through a micro USB plug connected to the phone.
It takes about one hour of stop- and-go cycling to power up to 5 per cent of the phone’s battery.
“You can use it in your daily life and it’s quite affordable,” Aayash said.
Rishon added: “And you can generate electricity without polluting.”
Many of the displays centred on conservation and using fewer natural resources.
The inventions impressed Hema Narula, a schoolteacher who volunteered as a judge, going from table to table assessing students’ work.
“I found a tremendous amount of understanding among the students about the cause of this huge amount of waste we are generating and the need to actually recycle,” Mrs Narula said.
“First of all we had the awareness part and then they actually worked out a viable option on how you could actually recycle.”
Winners of each category took home trophies, medals and a commemorative certificate.
rpennington@thenational.ae