Have you ever wondered which gas station has the cleanest bathroom, the best way to get out a stubborn ketchup stain, or whether different colored popsicles melt at different rates?
The students at Bradfield Elementary have.
About 100 Bradfield Broncos put their creativity to the test during the school’s science fair on Jan. 30. The students documented their work on tri-fold project boards, then explained their methodology to four volunteer judges who evaluated them.
The projects had to be student-led — the kids were the scientists at this science fair, not their parents — and no live animals were allowed. But students were otherwise free to explore, ask questions, and think critically about the world around them, explained Shannon Piper and Caitlin Merritt, who co-chaired the fair with Jackie Coker.
“I’ve learned a few things myself,” science fair judge Nelson Beville said with a laugh as he walked through a row of first-grade projects. “I think it’s invaluable to use your imagination, and be creative, and figure out a process and stick to it.”
When Mother Nature provided snow days, several students, including first-grader Tim Zeng, turned them into science experiments.
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After watching neighbors put salt on snow, Zeng wondered whether sugar would also make ice melt. He discovered that sugar may look like salt, but it is much less efficient at melting ice.
Other students devised experiments to help resolve their families’ daily dilemmas.
In her project, “The Pain of the Stain,” first-grader Margaret Rowling put ketchup on her shirt, then experimented with stain removers to see which one worked most effectively. She recommends Sprouts Farmer’s Market Laundry Stain Remover.
With Q-tip in hand, second-grader Ella Dowling tackled the question of which gas station has the cleanest restrooms. She swabbed around toilets, then wiped her Q-tips on petri dishes which she popped into an oven. Dowling found that QuikTrip gas station restrooms were the cleanest. (Buc-ee’s, the travel-stop famed for its immaculate toilets, was not part of the experiment.)
Dowling was surprised by the results. Some restrooms weren’t as clean as they looked. “You should wash your hands at gas stations, no matter how clean they look or how dirty they look,” she advised.
Classmates crowded around the young scientists, who explained their methodology to their peers. One popular project was second-grader Prescott Gage’s experiment on whether organic or non-organic sugar stuck better to rock candy sticks.
“I thought it would be cool and it would taste good. But it was so successful, I can’t get it out,” Gage said, explaining that his candy had grown to be so large that it was now stuck to the sides of the glasses where he had made it.
The science fair’s judges included pediatric dentist Beville, Hola HP owner Katherine Herron, mental health provider Chandler Sinclair, and retired Bradfield science teacher Priscilla Crow, who was judging the science fair for the fourth year.
“It’s always been fun. Every January I look forward to it,” Crow said. “It’s good to see the kids excited about science.”
