5th National Hi Score Science Competition
“Can we hear the northern lights?” This is one of the winning questions of the 5th National Hi Score Science competition. An outreach project that aims to bring science to young people through a game of questions and answers about science for mobile devices and computers.
Hi Score Science is a project developed between two research institutes, the Institute of Chemical Synthesis and Homogeneous Catalysis, ISQCH, and the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute, INMA, (CSIC-UNIZAR), and includes explanations of the scientific reality behind each of the answers, encouraging users’ curiosity about science. In addition, the project aims to make the users themselves feel part of the project, as they are the generators of the scientific content. To this end, nationwide competitions have been set up at various levels: youth (14-18 years old), senior (over 18) and junior (under 14), and an online National Absolute league has been created, in which users of all ages and locations in Spain compete, with the last game taking place from 26 to 30 May 2022.
The free, ad-free game, Hi Score Science, is available on the Play Store and Apple Store and on PC, Mac and Linux (www.HiScoreScience.org). All information about the project and how to compete in the different categories is available at www.HiScoreScience.org.
On 29 April, the awards ceremony for the winners of the 5th National Edition took place, in which more than 200 teams from all over Spain participated. They sent us more than 4,000 questions, which, once reviewed and edited by a scientific team of 50 researchers, are published in the game with the name and the school that sent the question.
In addition, during the prize-giving ceremony, the 5th national face-to-face competition was held, in which students from the different Autonomous Communities put their scientific knowledge to the test by answering questions such as “Why doesn’t the Moon fall towards the Earth?” or “Where would we see the Sun rise if we were exactly at the Earth’s geographic south pole?” “What would happen to a carrot left submerged in water with salt for some time?”
The winning schools in the team category were:
– Winner: Colegio Santo Domingo De Silos – Zaragoza – Teacher in charge: Fernando Rived
– Runner-up: IES Joanot Martorel – Valencia – Teacher in charge: Javier Julián
– Third place: Colegio San Juan Bautista – Madrid – Teacher in charge: Alexandra Prada
Individual student winners in the content category:
– Winner: Iván Terreu – Colegio Santo Domingo de Silos – Zaragoza
– Runner-up: Fran Sandoval – IES Joanot Martorell – Valencia
– Third place: Fátima Maamla – Colegio El Buen Pastor – ZARAGOZA
Winners of the best question:
– Carla González: IES Leonardo Da Vinci (Salamanca): “Can we hear the Northern Lights?”
– Andrea Sevilla: IES Riu Túria (Valencia): “Who calculated the radius of the Earth by measuring the shadow of two sticks in different places at the same time?”
Participation category:
– Olaya Veira: Corazón De María School -Gijón.
Presential category:
1st match
– Winner: Jorge Rodrigo Sánchez – IES Goya – Zaragoza
– Runner-up: Esperanza Pérez – IES Riu Turia – Valencia
– 3rd place: Gonzalo Ripoll – Colegio San Juan Bautista – Madrid
2nd Match
– Winner: Pablo Arcos – IES Goya – Zaragoza
– Runner-up: Laura Borlaf – Colegio San Juan Bautista – Madrid
– Third: Cristina Beltrán Potente – Colegio Santo Domingo de Silos -Zaragoza
3rd match
– Winner: Mónica Pueyo – IES Goya – Zaragoza
– Runner-up: Pablo Sierra – IES Goya – Zaragoza
– Runner-up: Isaac Ojeda – Colegio San Juan Bautista – Madrid
An informative project in constant movement with international recognitions
The Hi Score Science project was born in 2016 in response to the need to adapt outreach activities to the world of the youngest, belonging to the digital generation, which is currently focused on video games and new technologies. This project has progressed year after year, going from being a regional to a national project and reaching a more disadvantaged audience such as young patients admitted to hospitals, prisons, rural inhabitants and adults, a group usually far from outreach activities that allow them to participate actively and not as mere observers.
The project has been awarded first prize in the XVIII Edition of the Science in Action programme in the “Science Teaching Materials in Interactive Support” category (IBM Award), has received the D+i TOP seal, a national recognition that rewards the best inclusive science dissemination projects, and has been nominated twice for the Third Millennium Awards.
Hi Score Science is a highly rated game among users with a score of 4.5 out of 5, a much higher score than other similar games, and currently has more than 40,000 downloads worldwide, mainly in Spain and Asia. The game has been presented in the different autonomous communities, in videogame, scientific and informative fairs, reaching 100,000 people.
A scientific team behind Hi Score Science
Hi Score Science project has been developed between two research centres, the Institute of Chemical Synthesis and Homogeneous Catalysis, ISQCH, and the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute, both joint centres of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza.
The project counts with the collaboration of other UCC and science museums such as the Deputy Vice-Presidency of Scientific Culture of the CSIC (VACC), the museums: Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid, Instituto Geológico y Geominero de España, Museo Elder de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Museo Eureka, Casa de la Ciencia de Sevilla, CIUTAT DE LES ARTS I LES CIÈNCIES, Casa de la Ciencia de Valencia, Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Zaragoza and the Planetarium of Aragón, the University of Cantabria, the University of Alcalá, as well as the town councils of small towns such as Benasque and the Comarca de Calatayud.
