Posted: Saturday, May 5, 2007 12:00 am
TANGENT - Cloth works better than Popsicle sticks for boat sails. Generic batteries sometimes outperform the brand names. And it takes exactly 35 balloons filled with helium to lift a stick of butter.
Students at Tangent Elementary School made these discoveries at an all-school science fair, held Wednesday at the school.
Third-grader Cameron Ortiz tested wood, cloth, paper and plastic sails on a toy boat, then used a fan to blow it across a shallow tray of water. At 3.66 seconds, the cloth sails were the fastest, he said. "I learned wood was the slowest because it was the heaviest."
His classmate Alex Bell had a lot of fun finding out how many helium balloons would lift a quarter-pound of butter.
"My dad thought it would be interesting to see if butter would float," she told the judges.
Third-grader Nikkie Morris tested two brand-name 9-volt batteries against a generic version and found the generic one lasted longer.
"I didn't like being judged because I don't like talking in front of people," she said. "My grandma told me to just imagine they were all in their underwear, but it didn't help. So instead I just imagined I was talking to a wall."
All students in third, fourth and fifth grades were required to submit entries in either life science, earth science or physical science. Several younger students also chose to enter.
Tangent has held science fairs in the past, but this one was more formal and extensive, said Janeen Tope-Lehn. Tope-Lehn coordinated the fair and adapted curriculum from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for elementary use.
Memorial Middle School students participated Thursday in a similar science fair. If enough schools are interested, Albany may hold a district-wide version next year, Tope-Lehn said.
Tangent's committee for talented and gifted students came up with the idea, both to give elementary TAG students a project and to spark interest in a topic that sometimes gets overlooked in the push for better math and reading scores.
Volunteer judge Allyson Lickman, who is working to become a middle-school science teacher, said the subject incorporates and builds on both reading and math, along with just about any other topic that would strike a child's interest.
"Whatever they're curious about, it involves science," she said.
Oregon is ahead of the game when it comes to science instruction, and science fairs in general are enjoying renewed interest around the state, said officials with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Oregon students in middle and high schools can participate in regional fairs, compete at the state Intel Northwest Science Expo, and then advance to the international fair.
The director of the Intel NWSE fair, Stephanie Jones, said 24 new schools competed this year.
"Every year we get more and more participation, especially middle school," Jones said. "And I'm getting more and more teachers involved. I see that everything keeps growing."
This year, 456 middle-school students participated, up about 100 from last year, she said.
The federal No Child Left Behind act requires statewide science tests, along with reading and math.
Oregon goes most states one better by requiring not only test results but work samples to prove what they've learned, said Berk Moss, a retired science specialist with the Beaverton School District.
Moss co-wrote the Intel science fair curriculum that Tope-Lehn adapted for Tangent's use.
"We're way ahead of the curve," he said. "We see lots and lots of kids able to do things in terms of scientific inquiry (here) than we do in other states."
The importance of a science fair isn't the projects, he said - it's the process children go through in creating them.
They have to form a clear question, gather information, set up the rules for the experiment and evaluate the data, Moss said. They'll use the same process to choose a college, buy a house and decide who to vote for.
"That's one of the reasons we think science education is important for everyone, not just people who are going to be scientists," he said.
Science fair winners
Kindergarten-second grade: 1st, Emma Jimenez; 2nd, Caleb Shilling; 3rd, Wyatt French.
Third-grade Life Science:1st, Katie Jimenez; 2nd, Jennifer Mendoza; 3rd, Gabe Eggers.
Fourth-grade Life Science: 1st, Lidia Mendoza-Lopez; 2nd, Sydney Noll.
Fifth-grade Life Science: 1st, Kyle Morris; 2nd, Kiana Lovelace; 3rd, Chris Garcia.
Third-grade Physical Science: 1st, Jessica Ramirez; 2nd, Jordan Fee; 3rd, Kennedy Painter.
Fourth-grade Physical Science: 1st, Breanna Martin; 2nd, Ashlie Fawver; 3rd, Caleb Peterson.
Fifth-grade Physical Science: 1st, Forrest Thomas; 2nd, Nic Douglass-Garcia; 3rd, Luke Ohling.
Fourth-grade Earth Science: 1st, Ashlee Valerio; 2nd, Sophia Ruiz-Zarate; 3rd Breanna Beck.
Best of Show: Kyle Morris, fifth-grade Life Science.
By Jennifer Moody. She can be reached at jennifer.moody@lee.net.