The Science Olympics is a series of fun, competitive games, held at The University of Liverpool Physics Department.

Each team consists of 4 13-14 year old pupils, together with a teacher. We form the teachers into adult teams who compete against other adult teams, to keep teachers out of mischief and ensure that it really is the effort of the pupils.

Schools from Wirral, Liverpool and Sefton have taken part this year with just under 40 schools (160 pupils) competing in three heats for these areas. In the heats, the following games were played:

"Electromagnetic Madness" - Using wire, a nail, a battery, and other bits-and-pieces, the aim is to produce an electromagnet capable of picking up as many paper-clips as possible.

"Another Brick in the Wall" - Using 10 regularly shaped wooden blocks, participants produce a structure with the largest overhang from a table edge.

"Spaghetti Tower" - The aim is to produce the tallest structure that can support a Walnut Whip, using nothing but dry spaghetti and Jelly Babies.

"Sweet Trader" - Teams trade sweets with each other in an attempt to form particular combinations of types of sweet. Different combinations have different points values and the highest number of points wins.

The first and second place schools in each heat received a prize (Book tokens) and there were lots of sweets for participants. There was also a quiz, caption and science limerick competition for small prizes.

The first and second place teams are invited to the Grand Final taking place on 13th July. Additionally, there has been an option for the coordinators to ask two more enthusiastic schools from their area to the finals, which they all have done.

The schools taking part in the finals are:

Bluecoat School, Notre Dame, West Derby Comprehensive (Liverpool)
Calday, Woodchurch, St Mary's and Oldershaw (Wirral)
Bootle HS, Chesterfield, Holy Family (Sefton)

The final will take place in the Science Lecture Rooms, close to the Chadwick laboratory on the Liverpool University campus on 13th July.

Click here to find out more about the Science Olympics final

For more information please email aimhigher@liv.ac.uk