Student scientists serve up honors

  • By Dave Mast
  • February 1, 2010
  • 619
                        
What kind of cheese molds the fastest? Do heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones? What kind of substance will clean a dirty penny the best? These were the questions asked by the top winning junior scientists at the inaugural Millersburg Elementary Science Fair on Tuesday, Jan. 26. In front of a packed house in the school gymnasium, the top students were honored, and will now represent their school at the Mohican District Science Fair later this winter. The idea behind the science fair is to get students thinking about the scientific method, which includes posing a question, developing a hypothesis, researching, performing experiments, analyzing results and drawing conclusions. Three different fifth-grade classes came in during the day Tuesday, and stood beside their projects. They were then visited by two of 10 judges, who asked questions, inspected their projects and gave them a grade. The students left without knowing who had received the coveted superior ratings that would get them to the next level. That task came Tuesday evening, when parents, grandparents and siblings accompanied the students to school, where the results were announced. Receiving superior ratings were Katy Vaccariello, who placed first overall, Kate Rodhe, Austin Reining, who placed third overall, Jed Alexander, Connor Roach, Josh Goudy and Turner Horn, who placed second overall. The science fair was part of the curriculum for all of the Millersburg fifth-graders, and according to principal Tim Wigton, the evening was a reward to recognize all of the hard work that went into weeks of preparation and study. “The kids put a lot of hard work into their projects, and this is a fun way for them to learn in a different kind of way,” said Wigton. “This is kind of a culmination of a lot of the things they’ve been learning over the years. Regardless of whether they got a superior or not, it is part of their science grade, so they knew they had to really focus. We had some really awesome projects.” Georgia Jaeb, Millersburg Elementary science teacher, headed up the fair, along with fifth-grade teachers Pat Sage and Sandy Frase. Jaeb said the evening of the award ceremony was akin to organized chaos, but for the first year, she felt it went very well. And most importantly, the kids had a tremendous learning opportunity. “We were thrilled with the huge turnout,” said Jaeb, of the packed gymnasium. “I think one of the benefits of this was to help the kids focus and organize. This is such a fun way for us to learn about something that will help the kids in their further education. Considering that this was the first year for us doing this competitively, I think the results were quite good.” The 10 judges, comprised mostly of retired teachers, asked the students where they got their idea, why they chose it, and how they went about the scientific method. Out of the 76 students who submitted projects, some students had incredibly detailed posters of what they had done over the six week period. Others, like third place overall finisher Austin Reining, achieved a top rating simply by impressing the judges with the knowledge they exhibited on their subject. “The judges I talked with who interviewed Austin said he was incredibly knowledgeable,” said Jaeb. “He tested off the charts in that category.” Overall winner Katy Vaccariello not only put together an outstanding display on what kinds of cheeses mold the quickest, she went the extra distance, by taking a tour of Guggisberg Cheese with her parents, and seeing the actual cheese making process in action. That made the judges take note. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much that impressed the judges,” said Jaeb. All 76 students began picking their projects before Thanksgiving. They then worked approximately six weeks at school and at home, fashioning their boards, forming hypotheses, running experiments and gathering data. While Vaccariello’s hypothesis that Swiss cheese would mold the fastest because it had holes in it proved to be incorrect, Jaeb said the important thing for students to understand was that creating a correct hypothesis isn’t what’s important. What does matter is proving the theory in the proper manner, which Vaccariello did to a tee. Horn put together a nifty project showing how objects fall at the same rate of speed, regardless of their weight. The Millersburg students receiving superiors will now join students from Clark Elementary, Killbuck Elementary and West Holmes Middle School in representing the county at districts.


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