Projects, whose titles included
”
Where Do You Store Your Bread?,
”
”
Hungry Ants!
”
and
”
Is the Yoke on You?,
”
lined the aisles at the San Benito County Science Fair on
Tuesday night at San Juan School.
Projects, whose titles included “Where Do You Store Your Bread?,” “Hungry Ants!” and “Is the Yoke on You?,” lined the aisles at the San Benito County Science Fair on Tuesday night at San Juan School.
One hundred and forty-six students from eight schools throughout the county participated, and 16 first, second and third-place awards were handed out. Organizer Charles Oles said enjoying science isn’t the only thing these students get out of the fair.
“They’ve not only learned about science, but they’ve learned about how to present information, compete and how to express their ideas,” he said.
Oles is also very pleased that every student walked away with something for their time and energy.
“We have a great sponsorship relationship with McDonald’s, and every year they reward each kid with a hamburger or other menu item just for their effort,” he said.
The fourth- through eighth-grade projects were judged in categories including botany, physical science, environmental science, zoology, earth science, behavioral science and microbiology.
Nicole Corlett never imagined that taking her project from the year before and adding to it would win her the grand prize. The eighth-grader from Rancho San Justo Middle School took her interest in solar cells as a source of energy and added fuel cells to the mix this year.
“What my project does is demonstrate the process of electrolysis,” she said. “I wanted to see if the temperature would affect the proficiency of the electricity.”
Corlett proved her hypothesis to be true. When using a cooler temperature, the productivity was slower.
“So, someone who lives in a warm climate would see better results if using fuel and solar cells for energy than someone who, say, lives in Alaska,” she said.
Grace Tobias, 10, informed the hundreds of people who viewed her project about kitchen safety.
“I wanted to see if the heat in a microwave can kill the bacteria in a kitchen sponge and sterilize it,” she said.
Tobias’ graphs and conclusion proved the microwave could kill the bacteria, if the sponge was heated for more than 15 seconds.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the school’s gym, Justin Postigo was helping San Benito County moms be more cost efficient in the kitchen.
“I wanted to see which brand of paper towels was the strongest,” the fourth grader said. “My mom uses Bounty, so I wanted to see if she was using the best one.”
Through moistening the strips of towels and weighing them down with pennies, Postigo proved his hypothesis wrong.
“Brawny was actually the strongest, and Bounty was the weakest,” he said.
His mother, Elaine Postigo, may be changing her paper towel selection in the future thanks to her son’s scientific experiment.
“It was really fun searching the Web for ideas,” she said. “I think it’s really important for these kids to do these projects, because it challenges them, and they get to use and understand the scientific method.”
Georgia Marcus’ son Blake is a sixth-grader at Tres Pinos School. Win or lose, she said, it’s the experience that the kids learn the most from.
“It was fun when he finally put it all together and could see the final product,” she said. “I think it’s great for the kids to do something hands-on and be able to see the fruits of their labor.”
Jade Morris, a fifth-grader from Ladd Lane, did see the fruits of his labor, but it wasn’t the outcome he hypothesized.
Morris conducted a test to see which corrosive liquids would deteriorate pennies the fastest. For three weeks, Morris monitored the pennies sitting in bleach, ammonia, Purell, Listerine, Coke and water.
“I thought the Coke would do it the fastest because it has citric acid in it,” he said.
Morris said after week-two, bleach took the lead, and his guess of Coke, actually came in last.
Six of the first-place winners will have the opportunity to compete with students from more than 350 schools in the 53rd Annual State Science Fair on May 24 and 25 in Los Angeles, for awards totaling more than $50,000.
