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Winner, Years 8 - 10, Qld.

BUNSEN BURNERS

Outside our classroom we waited in the shade,
Looking at surroundings which the gardeners had made.
"Our teacher must be sick," I heard some students say,
So we have a different person teaching us today.

"Take your seats," he said out loud,
As he moved around the Year 8 crowd.
We were placed in groups of two and three,
Luckily my friends were next to me.

I looked around and saw the board change,
Our teacher was drawing something very strange,
"This is called a bunsen burner," he said, as he looked under the table,
And he handed us an object which looked very stable.

The drawing on the board was quite well done,
Then the lesson started to become more fun,
We were handed a box of safety matches
And allowed to light them in small batches.

One of my friends lit the match; the other held the taper,
I turned on the gas tap and recorded notes on paper,
Suddenly the room was full of light,
With red and blue flames in our sight.

This dazzling object amazed us all,
Our smiles and laughter bounced off the walls,
We were progressing so well, it wasn't a bore,
We didn't even use the taper anymore.

I lit the match and jumped away from the bright, blue flame,
This bunsen burner experiment was better than any game!
Suddenly the teacher said, "You have five minutes to go!"
We were having so much fun, we didn't even know.

I received my Bunsen Burner Licence, printed in yellow,
And our teacher turned out to be a very nice fellow,
"Congratulations!" he said and I gave him a smile,
My friends and I were overjoyed and could have jumped a mile.

That afternoon I went home and looked at my yellow card,
The experiment was really fun and it wasn't very hard,
I told my family what I'd done that day,
And I knew it couldn't be better any other way.

Miranda Cass
Year 8
Victoria Point State High School

Winner, Years 4 - 6, Qld.

I WANT TO BE A SCIENTIST

I want to be a Scientist
I want to own a lab
I want to be a specialist
You might think I'm mad
I want to use a laser beam
I want to win awards
I want to measure gravity
and study different laws
I don't want to be a circus clown
I don't want to be a nurse
I don't want to be an undertaker
and drive around in a hearse
I don't want to be a fireman
and battle fires all day
I want to be a scientist,
A scientist of today!

Adele O'Driscoll
Year 6
St Peter's School, Rockhampton

Winner, Years 7 - 9, Qld.

MAD SCIENTIST

I went into the science lab one day,
to find my teacher slaving away.
What he was working on I could not guess,
all I know was he was making a mess.
Test tubes and beakers,
even stinky old sneakers.
Everything in a muddle,
I nearly slipped in a puddle!
Then suddenly, BANG!!
I heard things clang.
I began to choke,
as I was surrounded in smoke.
Then all I could see,
was my teacher smiling with glee.
He'd invented an acid
which I thought looked quite placid.
It had a greeny-blue hue,
(more green than blue)
When I asked how it worked,
he went quite berserk.
It went on and on,
nearly turning into a song!
Then when he stopped
he looked ready to pop!
I think he'd gone mad
which was really quite sad.
I was annoyed at how far he got off the track,
'cause all I wanted was my test paper back!

Jane Benham
Year 9
Albany Creek State High School