Scotland Students Present Research at Science Fair

How does a boat float?  What type of salt makes ice melt the fastest?  What liquid makes a plant grow the best?  These were just a few of the questions that were answered last week at the Scotland Elementary School Science Fair.  The Fair was the culmination of 6 months of participating in a new before-school enrichment program, the Science Club.  The idea for the club originated from school principal, Mark Solomon, and was led by two parent volunteers, Stephen Norcross and Dan Briody.  Mr. Solomon noted, “It may have been my idea, but those two gentlemen were the parents that made the whole program work.”  The goal of the club was to engage students in science by having them complete their own research projects and present their results to the school community at the Science Fair. 

Starting last October, the club met before school on Friday mornings.  Mr. Norcross, who currently works for TD Bank, but worked for many years as an engineer and is certified to teach high school physics, wanted the club to have a very hands-on approach to science. “From my coursework for my teacher certification, we focused on teaching the scientific method and how an inquiry based approach is the best way to engage students about science. We tried to conduct the science club meetings by using interactive lessons.”  Mr. Briody, who has always had a strong interest in science and frequently writes about science in his work as a professional writer, agreed and added, “Leading the science club was a great way to spend some quality time with my son, who loves science, while getting to know his classmates, which is always a rewarding experience.”  

Nine students in grades 2–5 participated in the club.  In the early meetings of the club, the group discussed the scientific method, which includes making observations, asking questions, developing a hypothesis, completing an experiment, analyzing data, and reporting the results.  Science club meetings involved experiments such bouncing balls and floating fruit so the students could practice making hypotheses and testing them.  In later meetings of the club, the students developed their own project ideas and presented their proposals to the group.  The students helped each other to refine their experimental methods.

Mr. Norcross and Mr. Briody knew that for the club to be successful, the students needed to choose projects that were relevant and interesting for them.  Most projects arose from questions related to everyday activities.  For example, one morning, fourth grader Dmitri Volkov, wanted to have tea with milk and lemon at breakfast, but learned that when those substances are mixed, the milk gets clumpy.  He wanted to find out why that happens and if it happens when other liquids are mixed with milk.  Another fourth grader, Quin Mahoney, had been thinking about how salt is used to melt ice on roads and he wondered what kind of salt might melt ice the best. Collin Norcross, who enjoys playing ultimate Frisbee, wanted to know how to throw a Frisbee the farthest. 

All the students seemed to enjoy the experimentation phase of their projects.  Sam Briody, who did an experiment to find out which metal was the hardest, used a shot put dropped on different metals and measured how much it dented.  Sam said, “I liked doing my experiment, when the shot put dropped on the metal, it was so loud!  Out of the metals I tested, I learned that brass was the strongest.”  Andrew Dong, who wanted to know how a boat floats, said, “I really liked making my boats and figuring out how to test them.  I learned that a boat with more surface area can hold more cargo.”  Luke Boylan wanted to find out what makes a match light and said, “I learned a lot from my research.  It was fun to ask a question and do the work to answer it.”  Charlotte Norcross wanted to find out which liquid would make gel balls expand the most, “It was really fun to do my experiment and learn something new.”

Other students noted that the research was a fun opportunity to involve their families in a collaborative project.  Olivia DeStefano, who tested which liquid would make plants grow the best, said, “I really liked doing my experiment because I got to spend a lot of time working on it with my mom. ”  Ava Craig, who tested what part of the bat would make a baseball fly the farthest, also liked the time she spent with her family while working on the project, “Lots of family members helped me to test my experiment.  It was really fun to do the project and figure out the best place to hit the ball on the bat.” 

At the finale event, the Science Fair, students presented their research using presentation boards and materials from their experiments.  All parents of the participants, and students and their teachers from grades 1–5 visited the Fair.  Dmitri had some pH strips near his board so he could show students how he tested the acidity of different liquids before he mixed them with milk.  Ava showed the baseball bat she used in her experiment and how she marked the bat to show where it struck the ball.  Quin had an interactive board so that students could try to guess which salt melted ice the fastest and then lift a flap to see if they were correct.

The event was fun for the young scientists and the visitors to the fair.  Mr. Briody summed it up well, “I think they learned a process and methodology for solving complex problems and answering tough questions. I also think they gained an understanding of how some of the foundational knowledge humankind now takes for granted was acquired in the first place.”