Science Month Celebration 2022: Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for Sustainable Future

Every year San Juan City Science High School Celebrates Science Month but due to the pandemic, our school would not be able to celebrate the Science month for the previous School Year 2020-2021. As the number of CoVid-19 Cases decreases SJCSHS was able to conduct hybrid learning which allows the face to face class and online class. Hybrid learning gave us an opportunity to conduct activities for Science Month Celebration for the School Year 2021-2022. Although it was a little bit different from the usual celebration of Science Month, the said event became successful with the help of Science Club Officers, Science Teachers and Science Club Adviser of San Juan Juan City Science High School.

The Science Month Celebration for this year has the theme of ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for Sustainable Future’. The science month is usually celebrated for the month of September but our school celebrated it for the month of April and May which encouraged the students of San Juan City Science High School to participate physically and virtually. According to (Meena,2022), this celebration honors Sir C. V. Raman's exceptional contribution to research and discovery by providing hope and inspiration to future generations to pursue their dreams. Not to stop with just one discovery in any field, but to continue chasing the nation's credits in every way. Science month is not just a “celebration” but it is about showcasing the talents and skills of every student in terms of innovation and discovery. This also enables students to enjoy science concepts and to engage them on scientific issues.

The event was announced to the JUANSCI students using the Science club page and Science club website https://scienceclub8.wixsite.com/scienceclub which gives them easy access to know what are the different activities for Science Month Celebration.

Figure 1: Juansci Science Club Website

There are six different activities for the San Juan City Science High School Science Month Celebration. These are the following:

● Movie Marathon- The Theory of Everything

● Scientist Look-ALike

● Earth PhotographDay and Poster Making

● Webinar

● Quiz Bee

● Research Exhibit

The first activity conducted by the science club was the Movie Marathon held last April 11,2022. All of the students of San Juan City Science High School were invited to watch this movie using google meet. Theory of Everything gave the students an upside-down feeling. This is all about the journey of life of Stephen Hawking who has a great contribution to the understanding of gravity, black hole and cosmology. His remarkable quotation in the movie is that “There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope’.

This movie shows the struggle of Stephen Hawking as he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and how he never gives up to change our view about the universe despite his disease. This activity ended up as the students created a reflection paper from this movie. These are some of the reflection papers of the students from the movie.

Figure 2: Reflection Paper of Students on the “The Theory of Everything”

After the movie marathon, the next activity conducted by the science club officers was the Science Innovation and Literacy Webinar. Dr. Christ John Pastor was the resource speaker of the said webinar. This was held in teleconferencing via Google Meet last April 29, 2022. In addition, the webinar is all about science literacy. It is important for the young generations to determine which one is a fact and which one is false information. They should be careful in getting the information from different sources. From this webinar, they learned how to check trusted websites or government websites that will not give them misinformation in science. If you base your actions from false information, you can easily make wrong decisions in life. These decisions might bring you to danger. The best way to avoid fake news is to conduct your own research from reliable sources.

Figure 3: Science Innovation and Literacy Webinar

Aside from providing them additional knowledge in science concepts, an essential part of being a student involves recognizing how you can express yourself. That’s why we gave them the opportunity to share their creativity by having the Scientist Look Alike, EarthphotographDay and Poster Making. Scientist Look- Alike is all about portraying their favorite scientist using their costume, make-up and props. We gave the students an opportunity to explain who they impersonate and what is the reason why they impersonate that scientist. Moreover, in celebration of Earth Day with a theme of Invest in our Planet, we conducted an activity which will show off their skills in photography and arts. The Earth PhotographDay allows them to take environmental photographs that must be related to the theme. Furthermore, poster making lets them create a poster that displays their idea about the theme of Earth Day. All of the entries of the students were posted on the Juansci Science Club Page .

Figure 4: Entries of Scientist

Figure 4: Entries of Scientist Look-Alike, Earth PhotographDay and Poster Making

Another activity organized by science club officers who had tested their knowledge in different branches of science was the Science Quiz Bee. The Science Quiz Bee held last May 23,2022 which was open to Juansci Students from grade 7 to grade 10. The science quiz bee was divided into three phases: the Easy, Average and Difficult Rounds. Each level was composed of ten questions. Participants have thirty seconds to answer and the three students who got the first three highest scores were considered as first, second and third place. The science quiz bee helps them to test, enhance and develop their knowledge in science.

Figure 5: Onsite Science Quiz Bee

The highlight of science month celebration of San Juan City Science High School is the research exhibit which was held last May 24, 2022 and June 3, 2022. This research exhibit gave the students a roller coaster feeling because we all know that we don’t want to have a problem, what more looking for a problem and solving that problem. Creating a research paper and defending it to the panelist is not an easy task but the research exhibit showed that the students of San Juan City Science High School are innovative, creative and inventive thinkers. This research exhibit let the grade 8 and grade 9 students display their research. There are six sections who participated in the said event including the section Andromeda, Centaurus, Milkyway, Astronomy, Botany and Zoology. With the help of panelists and visitors- Mr. Ruel D. Liwanag, Mrs. Myrna G. Solis, Mrs. Helen S. Acedo, Dr. Bradley Goldie K. Loo, Dr. Emma Sendiong. Mrs. Amelita Panelo, Mr. Orlando Claor, Mr. Patrick Ferdinand Rillo, Dr. Buenafe E. Sabado and Dr. Cecille G. Carandang, we were able to identify the three winners for each section.

Figure 6: Research Exhibit with Visitors and Panelists

The two team winners from grade 9-Astronomy and grade 9-Zoology were able to represent the San Juan City Science High School and the Division of City of San Juan in Life Science Individual and Life Science Team in the Regional Science and Technology Fair which was held last July 7, 2022. Dwaine Joshua Tenorio was the proponent of Life Science Individual where he proposed his title about “ The Potential Use of Mango Leaves (Mangifera Indica) Cellulose and Jicama (Pachyrhizus erorus) based Plasticizer as a Major Substitute for Latex. Jericho Rae S. Lasam, Jhon Lawrence Benz G. Robino, Rianne Jewel M. Derrada, Erich Eileen G. Matilac and Karyza Monique M. Pontigon was the proponents of the Life Science Team and they proposed the title about “ The Effectiveness of Apple ( Malus Domestica) as Alternative Fuel.

Figure 6: Life Science Individual - Proponent

Figure 7: Life Science Team - Proponents

Learning does not only happen inside the classrooms but it comes from experience and gaining knowledge in our everyday lives. It is limitless. We can learn in different ways and science has a critical role in gaining additional experience and knowledge. Science is everywhere. It contributes in providing medicine, identifying diseases, providing our basic needs-such as water, food and energy, innovating technology and making life more fun. Science had a significant part in enhancing the living of humankind. Even though there are a lot of changes in the modality of learning of students, our mission will still remain- to provide every student an equal opportunity to learn and no one will be left behind.

Written by:

Angela S. Atisor

Teacher I

San Juan City Science High School