In Jacqui Kao’s article “Science transcends cultures in Taiwan” she expresses the importance of showing the informal side of science to Taiwanese students, who are likely to experience academic pressures earlier in life than their kiwi counterparts. Each year at the Madam Curie camp, the Otago team holds a quiz intended to show just that.
“It’s a quiz- but it’s a fun quiz” Dave Warren explains to a packed hall of students, while standing in front of a projected image of himself riding a drift trike. The quiz commences with a combination of heavy chemistry and light trivia; “What is the total number of atoms in 13 molecules of potassium dichromate?”, “Who directed the Lord of the rings?”.
Within three rounds, the pretense of an academic competition is all but lost, and students are openly sharing answers, laughing, and teasing the outreach team. I spot Taieri high school students Savannah and Jinaya helping the surrounding students with the NZ trivia questions.
In addition to the informal elements of the quiz, the team has incorporated a Taiwan-specific cultural element: the students must write a poem about chemistry in couplet form. In the following video, Jacqui Kao explains the couplet form, and the significance of its inclusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lel4EsOKHA
This blog will be updated periodically as the camp progresses, but you can also keep up with the team on facebook, twitter, youtube, and Instagram at the following URLs
Otago chemistry outreach page: https://www.facebook.com/chemotago/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvEnYDv1AdrA016_E86Fj0w
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chemotago
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chemotago/
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