The Education Games : Students Watch Course Work Come Alive at Simi Valley ‘Olympiad’

Simi Valley sixth-grader Courtney Spencer cocked her arm and let fly with a sleek white paper airplane that arced through the air, leveled out and slid through a hoop erected several feet away.

As Courtney, 11, did a jig celebrating the feat, the adults standing nearby didn’t reprimand her for the age-old classroom antic. Instead, they praised the Park View Elementary School student for her aerodynamic design.

“When you fold the creases really sharp and straight, it helps it fly better,” Courtney said, demonstrating the physics lesson she learned while experimenting with different wing designs to reduce resistance and ensure a steady flight.

More than 200 students from Simi Valley elementary schools watched their course work come alive Thursday during a Math-Science Olympiad at Royal High School.

At stations set up in the high school’s cafeteria, students worked to see how long they could make a paper bridge that could support the weight of a penny, made batteries from household objects, and raced snails while discussing the creatures’ slimy habits.

In one corner, students tested homemade catapult gadgets to see how close they could land an object to the bull’s-eye.

“You have to get the right angle to hit the target,” said Joanna Narbonne, 11, a sixth-grader at Garden Grove Elementary School.

At another end of the room, the children built skyscrapers from straws, the object being to make the structures as tall as possible without toppling them.

“They learn to explore, they learn to try things and they learn that science can be fun,” said John Bickford, a science teacher at Sequoia Junior High School who spent the afternoon running the battery-making station.

As many as 16 students were allowed to participate in teams from each school. Teachers and principals at the schools chose the children who went, usually by reviewing grades or essays.

Although there was no competition, students often cheered and slapped high-fives when they finished a task. After completing each activity, they got stamps of achievement on their score cards.

Instead of winning, third-grade teacher Genny Pringle said, “they work together cooperatively as a team and at the end, their reward is that structure they’ve built.” Still, some students couldn’t resist seeking top status. Al Richmond’s sixth-grade class from Vista Elementary School screamed with delight when their tower of science books toppled from its tiny paper foundation when the 31st book was placed on top.

The previous record was 25 books, 11-year-old Megan Major explained excitedly. Then, revealing the group’s secret, she said that narrow circular foundations can hold more weight. However, wider ones don’t tip as easily, she said.

“You have to make it somewhere in the middle,” Major said.

Nearby, students cheered their team’s snail in a race that seemed to go nowhere. To prepare for questions that were asked during the race, the students studied the snail’s habitat and reproductive system, said Carol Brummett, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at Big Springs Elementary.

“They need moisture to slither,” said fifth-grader Dino Triolo, 10, in answer to a question about what snails need to survive.

Students who chose the seemingly fastest snails were disappointed when their racers slid around in circles instead of moving toward the finish line.

Parent Greta Vaught surveyed the scene with satisfaction. “They’re having fun, but they’re learning at the same time,” she said.