First-Annual Urbana Middle School Science Fair Inspires Future Researchers
Sixth-Graders Display Results of Their Experiments
Approximately 30 sixth-grade students at Urbana Middle School proudly displayed their mastery of the Scientific Method during the Middle School's first-annual science fair March 12. The students volunteered to do the projects.
"The objective would be that the students gain knowledge and learn to use the scientific method to experiment on the topic of their choice," says sixth-grade teacher Brooke Crawmer. The students set up their science project displays, while other students came into the multi-purpose room to see their classmates' work. The students visiting the science fair participated in a scavenger hunt to promote interaction with the science projects. "The kids are really excited to share their projects, and the kids coming to see the projects seem interested," Crawmer adds.
There were many different science projects on display, including an experiment that used solar energy to make toast, a project measuring liquid displacement, and a project determining what liquid helps plants grow the best, just to name a few.
Rena Breann'Gray made toast through solar power, and she came away excited to learn more about solar power. She asks, "Did you know that in 20 minutes enough energy bombards the earth that would last the earth a whole entire year to help (power) everything in the world … but most of this energy goes to waste every 20 minutes?" Breann'Gray says she wants to continue studying science because "I learned new stuff, new things, but I also had fun doing it."
Shawn Lu studied buoyancy force or, "the thing that helps you float when you're in a pool or some sort of liquid." Lu learned that salt water had more buoyancy force because "the salt in there actually makes the water denser causing more buoyant force." Lu said the experiment was "very interesting," and the science project has inspired him to do more experiments.
Crawmer says she hopes to expand the science fair next year and possibly enter some regional science project competitions.