Over the summer, students in India competed in the first Gizmos Virtual Championship to showcase their STEM knowledge and problem-solving skills.
The competition was open to students in grades 3-10 throughout India. In each category (grades 3-5, grades 6-8, grades 9-10), students were required to solve specific challenges using particular Gizmos, none of which were announced until the day of the competition.
Students originally competed against classmates, with the winners advancing to a competition against the winners in other school zones. Winners at that level competed against each other in the national championship.
At the national level, students were tasked with completing a Gizmos interactive STEM Cases, which puts students in the role of a STEM professional solving a real-world problem. Grades 6-8 students took on the role of forensic scientists in the Chemical and Physical Changes STEM Case. In this case, scientists help the Secret Service by determining what methods criminals used to make counterfeit coins.
Darsh Jain, a grade 6 student at Delhi Public School Mathura Road in New Dehli, explains:
“We found out that Zinc was added to the copper coins to make it look silver because zinc chemicals—like zinc chloride and zinc metals were found and copper coins were found at the site. We ran an experiment and saw that dipping copper coins in zinc solution turned copper coins to look like silver.”
Darsh continues, “After that we know that the silver looking coins were heated. This made the zinc and copper metals in the coins to get mixed together and change the color of the coins to look like gold.
“So, this is how the copper coins were converted to fake gold coins.”
Throughout the competition, students expressed their fondness for Gizmos. Shanaya Singhal from GD Goenka Public School in Rohini, New Delhi, explained how her attitude toward science changed when she started using Gizmos.
“I used to think science was the most boring and difficult subject until I was introduced to Gizmos. Every lesson I did in Gizmos was so interesting and I just wanted to know more. I could learn at my own pace … and the best part, I got to play games and have fun.”
Shanaya used that newfound love of science to win the Category 1 (grades 3-5) National Competition as an agricultural scientist who helps a farmer solve their low fruit production problem in the Fruit Production and the Environment STEM Case.
Along with individual and school trophies, winning schools also received three-month subscriptions to Gizmos for all students.
The complete list of winners is below. Congratulations to all these young scientists!
Category 1 (grades 3-5)
Winner: Shanaya Singhal
First Runner Up: Garvit Agarwal
Second Runner Up: Anvay Chakilam
Winning School: GD Goenka Public School, Rohini, New Delhi
Category 2 (grades 6-8)
Winner: Vaagmee B
First Runner Up: Ritika Deorah
Second Runner Up: Purvi Sampathirao
Winning School: Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur
Category 3 (grades 9-10)
Winner: Harshita Jaiswal
First Runner Up: Anil R Dunna
Second Runner Up: Yug Patel
Winning School: GD Goenka Public School, Rohini, New Delhi
Best School Participation: Gitanjali Devakul, Hyderabad