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Cambridge Upper Secondary

Science Competition
Team Guide
Work together. Make discoveries. Solve problems.

Contents
What is the competition? ........................ 2
Why take part? ......................................... 2
How do we take part? ............................. 2
Choose your topic.................................... 3
Plan your work ......................................... 4
Carry out the investigation ..................... 5
Record and report ................................... 6
Reflect on your teamwork....................... 7
Present your work.................................... 7
How will you be judged?......................... 8
 What is the competition?
The Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition is an exciting team competition, where
you will work together in the same way that real scientists do all over the world.

The competition involves:

• working in a team of three to six
• choosing a science topic that interests you to investigate
• identifying and solving real-life scientific problems
• presenting your work to an audience.

Why take part?

By taking part in this competition, you will:
• grow your passion for science through investigation and practical work
• broaden your understanding of science beyond your usual studies
• show what you can do – to your fellow students, your teachers, your school and beyond
• develop skills for life including collaboration, communication and creativity and build on
your development of the Cambridge learner attributes – confident, responsible, reflective,
innovative and engaged
• enhance your applications for college, university or work
• be rewarded – your school will award certificates and the top teams have the chance of
winning Best in Country, Best in Region and Best in World prizes.

How do we take part?

To get started, you need to form a team of three to six members. You will work for 20–25 hours
over a number of weeks, within or outside lesson time – your teacher can advise. During this
time, you will work through the following stages, which include writing an investigation report,
reflecting on your teamwork and presenting your work to an audience.

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 2

 1. Choose your topic

Choose your team’s topic for investigation and create a question or hypothesis.

• Together, think of as many ideas for topics to investigate as you can.

• Discuss which topics interest all the team members and choose one or two that you are
all excited about and want to explore further.
• They should be relevant to your local community, a wider global issue, or important for
sustainability.
• Your topic must enable you to do some practical or investigative work. This may be in the
laboratory, or it may be investigative work outside the laboratory or school. It could also
involve developing and using questionnaires or other forms of research. You could find a
mixture works well for your investigation and team.
• Ask yourselves what question or hypothesis you will try to. Make sure it is achievable and
can be explored, so you can tackle the question scientifically.
• Speak to your teacher about your initial ideas – to see what is suitable and to help you
with the next stages of organisation and planning.
• If needed, rethink the topic and question or hypothesis until you are ready to make
detailed plans for your investigation.

Example topics

In the past, teams have successfully investigated a variety of topics. Here are some examples:

• Using sugar cane waste to make paper

• The effect of acid concentration on how microorganisms grow in raw chicken meat
• Can solar tubes reduce energy usage in school?
• Detecting adulterants in milk
• How does the diet of our school year compare with the diet of school children aged 7?
• How can a common school practical experiment in be done more sustainably?
• Which locally grown fruits can be used for DNA extraction in class?

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 3

 2. Plan your work

When you have chosen the question or hypothesis you want to investigate, you can make a
detailed plan of how your team will carry out the work. Your plan should include:

• exactly what you are investigating – it should be in the form of a question or a hypothesis
• any background research that might be needed and the information you need to collect
• the equipment and resources you will need
• how you can do your work safely
• how you can consider sustainability in the design of your experiments or research
• when and how you will do the work
• what each team member will contribute
• how you will report on the investigation
• how you will present the investigation to others.

You may need to check on any permissions you need (e.g., if you leave the school grounds, or
use photos, names or other people’s work).

Remember you can speak with your teacher about your ideas and plans. They can also talk with
you about what makes a good investigation and how it will be marked and judged for the
competition, to help you refine your plans.

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 4

 3. Carry out the investigation

When carrying out your investigation remember to be flexible. Not all plans work as expected. If
you encounter difficulties, you can adjust your plan and check it again with your teacher.
Remember to:

• record any changes made and the reasons for them. Do not worry – it is good science to
adjust your plans if there is a good reason
• keep records of all the information and data you collect
• always think about working safely when you are doing practical work
• reflect on how the work is going and how the team is working together and keep a record
of these reflections.

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 5

 4. Record your results and report on your investigation

You will record and report on how you carried out your investigation and what you have found,
describing:
• the problem or hypothesis you addressed
• the planning process you used
• what you did and why
• the outcomes of your investigation
• the conclusions and evaluation of your investigation.
You will be asked to produce a report on your investigation as a single Word document or PDF
file. A Word document is preferred.

Please make sure you do not include any personal details in the report. Do not include your
own names or the name of your school.

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 6

 5. Reflect on your teamwork

At the end of the project your teacher will ask you to reflect on how you have worked as a team:
what went well, what did not go so well, how you overcame problems. You should work together
as a team to write a written reflection of no more than 500 words.

6. Present your work to others

Once you have carried out your investigation you need to present your findings. You should
discuss with your teacher how you will present your work to others. Your presentation could be:
• a talk or demonstration to a live audience
• a slide show
• a poster
• a web page.
If your team is judged for the ‘Best in World’ award, we will ask for evidence of the presentation.
This could be a video recording or a copy of your slides, poster, web page or similar.

Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 7

 How will you be judged?
Your teacher will mark your project and award your team Gold, Silver, Bronze or Participation.
You will receive a certificate from Cambridge International.

If you are awarded a Gold certificate, your investigation will be judged by a team of judges,
including expert scientists from the University of Cambridge. They will award Best in Country
and Best in Region awards. Judges will be looking for the most innovative investigations – those
that addressed a real-world problem in a creative way and kept sustainability at their heart. The
winning teams will receive a certificate in recognition of their achievement.

At the end of the year, the winners of the Best in Region awards are put forward to be judged for
the Best in World award. The winning team will receive a certificate, be interviewed by a member
of the Cambridge team and be featured be featured on our website and in promotional materials.
The school will also receive a plaque to display.

Now you are ready to start investigating. Good luck!

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Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition – Team Guide 8