Last week the junior class of 2027 participated in the Collaborative Science Project, previously known as the Group 4 Project. This is where students enrolled in a DP Science are grouped with students from the other four, out of the five, sciences provided here at Meridian. Each student represents a science, consisting of Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Design and Computer Science.
Each group is chosen based on these 5 sciences and the groups are given an initiative as well as a problem where they have to work together to come up with a solution. This project allows students to collaborate with people they don’t normally talk to using each of their science backgrounds to complete the project.
This year’s topic was the Science of Food, where the students had to come together to find more sustainable ways to deal with issues like food waste, allergies, agriculture, and more. The students teamed up and put their science knowledge together to create two different presentations to present Friday afternoon. With only two days preparation, they each contributed to the presentations where they presented to the 5th graders during the school day and to parents from 5:00-6:00 after school.
After practicing with other groups and presenting to each other for positive feedback to perfect the presentation, the juniors took a trip to the fifth grade classrooms to present the first of their two presentations. Madelyn Perez, remarked that her favorite part of the project was “getting to present to my old fifth grade teacher and classroom.” She shared “it was a very wholesome experience knowing one day these students would be doing the same thing I’m doing right now.”
This project, while not for a grade, really opened up lots of learning opportunities for the students. In areas of collaboration, research, presentation, and others, the students came together overcoming obstacles, for example working with new peers and being assigned topics to solve. “Working with others opened a new perspective of collaboration for me” commented Austin Ryder. “Seeing how each science came together to solve each of our initiatives as a group rather than working alone was also beneficial.”
This annual event is a very important part of the DP program here at Meridian, allowing the students to build a project together with very little restriction. No one telling you the what’s and how’s that can be achieved, just ultimate freedom to work together and complete a task. With such a unique experience you might not see at any other schools, it really brings out what Meridian is all about.
