The Leys School – YOUNG SCIENTISTS COMPETE FOR PETER WATSON AWARDS

09 May 2018

Young scientists had the opportunity to develop their own research topics and present their findings at the Peter Watson Awards.

Peter Watson (OL), who died last year, was a distinguished and pioneering ophthalmologist. He endowed annual prizes “for unusual observations; innovative thinking; constructive development of ideas and problem solving in any of the fields of science.”

The competition was open to pupils from all year groups. The winner was Natsuki Omori R (L6) for The Trajectory of a Water Rocket. Runners-up were: Jake O’K and Kitty L (Y11) for An investigation into the Sympathetic Vibration of String Instruments. Third Prize went to Alex W (Y10) for his study, How Cohesive is Water?

The subjects explored were diverse and fascinating. Tiana I (Y7) examined What is the Optimal Temperature for Soil Bacteria to Grow? Sarah B (Y9) looked at How Can Colour Affect Taste? The Correlation between Sight and Taste. Thomas P (Y9) gave a presentation on Entropy in the Fourth Dimension and Rory W (Y10) considered How Stress Leads to Hypercortisolism and Therefore Insulin Resistance.

The judges were physicist Dr Megan Stanley from the University of Cambridge and Head of Science, Dr Rowland Adamson. They judged on the scientific research, reasoning and discussion of results from the written report, and also on the scientific content of the presentation as well as the pupils’ presentation, including how they handled questions.

Physics teacher Alexandra Annett, who organised the event, said: “Their work was exemplary and they all demonstrated outstanding problem solving skills through the course of their projects.”