|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Science fair a booming success
“I didn’t think the well water tasted good,” Jenna Fierro-Root said as she stood in front of her three-sided display board amongst rows of other students showing off their science fair projects at the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds Wednesday, Jan. 23.Her science fair project then began as she investigated the pH level of her home well in comparison with other water sources around Berryville.
Fierro-Root, an eighth grader at Johnson-Williams Middle School, won first place in the environmental science category at the science fair. Clarke County High School students were also judged.
Fierro-Root discovered that the pH level of her home’s well water is neutral, between 7.0-7.2, while water at several sites in Berryville are greater than 7.5. A pH less than 7 is acidic, greater than 7 is basic.
In the health and medicine category, ninth grader Brianna Harrell’s hypothesis was that raw milk would have the most Vitamin C and calcium compared to 1 percent, whole or skim milk.
She said she got her idea because “around here it’s a farm area so people drink a lot of milk.”
She found that the high amount of fat in raw milk indicates more calcium, but because Vitamin C is more water-soluble it shows up more in skim milk.
According to Harrell’s abstract, calcium is the most abundant element in the body. Vitamin C fights against organ tissue failure and is linked to reducing signs of aging.
Pointing at her display board, she shows that she followed the question, hypothesis, experiment/procedure and data and conclusion format.
Requirements for projects were research, creativity, pictures, graphs and data tables. Information was mounted on three-sided display boards, said Harrell.
“I think people should drink raw milk,” suggested Harrell, stating that she dislikes the pasteurization process. Pasteurization, the process by which milk is heated to kill diseased germs, also destroys harmless germs and nutrients, she said.
Amy Larrick of Clarke County Public Schools said that students came up with topics and began researching in late September. Students picked their topics by talking with friends and parents or through previous interests, she said.
Investigative research and scientific testing were done independently, said Larrick, but checkpoints were built-in during the year to check progress.
Eighty middle school students participated, and 200 high school students brought their projects for judging at the Ruritan Fairgrounds. The record amount of participation, said Larrick, is probably because of showmanship in front of the other students. Before, science projects were presented in front of individual classes, she said.
First place winners in all categories will be sent to a regional level. All first place winners at the high school will be sent. Regional requirements allow only 10 winners to move forward from the middle school.
You must be logged in to post a comment.