Rank 1 Chemistry Competition in the series of A Day with BTN Simpel events

Chemistry Insight Center (CIC) UNTAN collaborated with Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) in the agenda entitled "A Day with BTN Simpel" which was held on Saturday, 2 November 2019. According to Adirama Chrisna Putra, S.Ak. from BTN as the head of the activity, A Day with BTN Simpel" is an activity that aims to introduce BTN SimPel savings (Student Savings) and educate the habit of saving from an early age as part of a lifestyle. One of the "A Day with BTN Simpel" activity agendas is the Rank 1 Chemistry Competition, where the competition is held in collaboration with CIC UNTAN. The opening ceremony of the activity was also attended by the Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Mr. Muliadi, S.Si., M.Sc., representing the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

The title "Ranking 1 Chemistry Competition" packaged by BTN often makes parents of students or prospective participants curious and ask "how come elementary school students take part in chemistry competitions, even though they haven't studied chemistry". This question is natural to ask because in general chemistry is still not commonly heard of in elementary school. This is different from the high school level which has chemistry as a subject. Elementary students study science, which is a field of knowledge that is integrated with life. Elementary school students study science through Natural Sciences (IPA) subjects. Even though we have not specifically studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology, basically science is supported by these three sciences. Chemistry is included in science itself. From waking up to going back to sleep, our lives are inseparable from chemistry. The water we drink; the air we breathe; fuel for electricity, vehicles and other needs are all related to chemistry. The chemistry presented by CIC UNTAN in this competition is chemistry which is part of the science lesson material for elementary school students and is related to chemistry in everyday life.

The Rank 1 Chemistry Competition consists of two rounds, namely the question round and the practical round. The question round consists of 20 questions, where the questions are presented with practical videos demonstrated by UNTAN FMIPA Chemistry Study Program students. The practicum material presented is closely related to elementary school science subject matter, including: human breathing; changes in the form of objects; physical and chemical changes; properties of solids, liquids and gases; heat and heat transfer; capillarity which is also related to color separation; light; energy (sound energy, alternative energy) and its changes; acid and base; as well as material related to environmental chemistry. The environmental chemistry material provided is material related to daily life, namely the impact of salt water experienced by Pontianak residents some time ago on the washing soap foaming process. Participants' carefulness is needed in this stage of the competition, because basically the answer is implied in the video presented, only stated with different sentences/editing.

The next round is the practical round. In this round, participants carry out simple chemistry practicals themselves. There were three practicums carried out by participants, namely a simple freezer practicum, a hot flask practicum and a practicum on differences in liquid densities. The practicum carried out by participants is closely related to everyday life. In a simple freezer practicum, students are given an understanding of the method used to make ice cream last longer and not melt, namely by placing a mixture of ice cubes and salt around the ice cream container so that the freezing point of the water is lower. Students prove for themselves that the temperature of hot water can be maintained if it is stored in a thermos during the hot thermos practicum. In the liquid density practical, students were given to mix three liquids with different densities and it turned out they did not mix with each other because of the difference in density.

The participants carried out the practicum enthusiastically. It can be seen that the natural scientific instincts of the elementary school students participating in this competition have grown and developed well, so that their curiosity is great and they are enthusiastic about gaining new knowledge through science practicum activities in the field of chemistry which are fun and closely related to everyday life. Students record the results of practicum observations and provide conclusions regarding the results obtained from the practicum. Answers to questions related to practicum and practicum conclusions are the two things that are assessed in this practicum round.

All practicum implementations are guided directly by the UNTAN CIC team consisting of students and lecturers from the Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, UNTAN. The students act as companions and practicum supervisors who help and direct the students' work as competition participants. Practical evaluation related to explanations of what was done and evaluation of participants' answers was carried out by lecturers from the UNTAN CIC team, namely Dr. Adhityawarman, Ph.D., Intan Syahbanu, M.Sc. and Nurlina, M.Sc.

The results of the scores for the question round and practical round were added up and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were obtained for the 1st Rank Chemistry Competition. Rheinishifa Disa Keary from SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak won first place, Lituhayu Aleija Rengganis from SDN 03 East Pontianak won second place and Arkananta Adli Djamaludin from SDN 03 Jalan Sulawesi Pontianak. The first runner-up was Laras Anandia Putri from SDN 23 West Pontianak, the second runner-up was Muhammad Zikra Al Muqfi from Bawamai Elementary School and Debora from SDN 04 Pontianak as the third runner-up.

The students admitted that they were impressed with the competition packaging designed by the Chemistry Insight Center team so that they not only competed, but also gained knowledge and knowledge. BTN as the organizer also expressed his satisfaction with the second collaboration with CIC UNTAN after previously collaborating in the Fun Chemistry activity. CIC UNTAN hopes that similar activities can be scheduled again at another time, either by CIC UNTAN itself or as a result of collaboration with other agencies/parties, so that it can familiarize the science of chemistry with the wider community. In the next activity, it is hoped that there will be outreach to the participating students regarding the types of activities and benefits of the activities, in order to increase participants' interest in taking part in the activities.

Author by: Nurlina, S.Si, M.Sc