The two teams placed first and second in the Muswellbrook heat of the Science Super Challenge on June 25 and as a result qualified for two different regional competitions.

Merriwa Central School won the event for the first time and contested the Northern NSW Zone Super Challenge Cup on Thursday.

The team was up against experienced competition from seven other teams and revelled in the opportunity to learn from a different kind of science.

Merriwa Central School finished sixth and their teacher Peter Davidson said it was an outstanding accomplishment for such a small and relatively inexperienced team.

“We had the bare number of 16 and were up against the Australian winner and runner up from last year,” he said.

“As you go up levels you get less materials and less time so more hands on deck would have helped.

“Despite all of that we were within striking distance of the winners.

“I’m sure it has raised their interest in a potential career in science or engineering.”

The Scone High School side experienced a similar situation last Tuesday as they competed in the Northern NSW Zone Super Challenge Trophy for the first time.

There were 28 students from year 10 eager to apply their science skills to the multiple experiments on the day and in the end they too finished sixth.

Scone High School science teacher Maryanne Young said it was a real eye opener for all the students.

“What the kids realised was that a lot of the schools competing had training after school and on weekends which we couldn’t do,” she said.

“They were just so excited to be a part of it. You cant beat the experience they were given.

“Fourteen of them are going into physics next year and it made them realise how much of it they have already been doing.”