Science Fair: An Opportunity To Initiate Independent Investigations
By Guest Writer, Julia de Freitas (7th Grade)
Science Fair is an opportunity for students throughout the country to independently conduct a science experiment and compete with other students in schools across Texas, or even across the US. Elementary, middle and high schools guide their Science Fair participants through the self-driven process of completing a scientific experiment and giving an account of their project to a panel of judges.
Science Fair participants can work alone, developing their independence and agency, or in a group, working together as communicators and collaborators. Either way, the process is student-led, encouraging the students to take initiative, find personal learning systems and habits, and overall drive themselves towards learning science. Participants come up with their own ideas and procedures for their experiment; then, they conduct, examine results, and organize data. Finally, they prepare presentation boards and showcase their project at the regional Science Fair, called GARSEF. Judges review each project and students defend their work and answer questions.
From the beginning of an idea to the final results, learners’ projects are their own, worked through with minimal teacher help. Let’s take a peek into the minds of some young Long-View scientists and their projects.
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Sophia started out by brainstorming project ideas related to plants—her research surfaced two areas of interest, one related to native plants and the other on whether grey-water (re-used wastewater) could be used on plants. The first iteration of an experiment idea was to test how grey-water affects native plants. Then Sophia considered ways her project could have a positive impact on other communities. This is how she landed on her final testing question: How do Different Types of Grey-Water Affect the Mexican Mint Marigold and the Soil Quality?
The results of Sophia’s project are important because they could determine a way to re-use grey water to help nurture and grow the Tagetes Lucida, or the Mexican Mint Marigold. This plant, abundant in the small village of Cubaniquilico (Veracruz, Mexico), has many uses, including pollination, food for birds, and pest resistance. This particular village, with which Sophia has a personal connection, is in the mountains and it is short on natural water resources during certain periods of time. Homes that do have plumbing often waste the water after use. Thus, grey-water offers an alternative that could be very helpful.
Sophia tested her question by watering her Mexican Mint Marigold plants with three different types of grey-water using Zote, Roma, and Palmolive soap, as they are commonly used in Cubaniquilico, and her control was tap water. At the beginning of the experiment, Sophia weighed each plant, recorded the height of every plant, measured the water, and tested the soil quality using a soil testing kit. Then, after her 15 days of experimenting, she analyzed her results. She transferred the data from tables into line graphs. The height of the grey-watered marigolds had decreased slightly, while the weight increase was significant, and the soil quality decline was minimal. Both the experimental and control group showed positive results, providing a possible mitigation strategy helpful for areas prone to water shortages.
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Nefeli’s project this year was an iteration of her last science fair project. Last year, she conducted an experiment related to testing different ratios of spring water to run-off water, using a small but common colony of shrimp-like water fleas called Daphnia Magna. This year, her project built on the foundation of the prior year; she was inspired by her earlier experiment, as well as a local issue.
Nefeli has a creek by her house, one that many dogs and other organisms enjoy. She wanted to test how clean the creek water was—how safe it is for humans and animals. She then considered how many local creeks flow into Lady Bird Lake and ultimately decided to collect different samples from the lake from a variety of areas, such as stagnant areas with algae, as well as areas that appeared clean. She chose to test the quality of her samples by again utilizing Daphnia Magna since they are an indicator species that multiply more in cleaner water. This gave her a window into whether she could conclude a particular sample was clean and safe—if the Daphnia reproduced, it could mean the water was safe.
Considering the potential amounts of dangerous toxins and substances in large bodies of water, Nefeli’s hypothesis was: “The water of Lady Bird Lake is polluted and unhealthy, because, like most bodies of water, it has lots of microplastics. It also has the toxic ‘Blue green algae’....” To test her hypothesis, she used her four water samples from Lady Bird Lake and one control sample of pure spring water. Iterating from last year’s experiment, she showed growth in considering consistency by measuring the amount of water and its conditions during testing including temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH. For each test she used five similar sized Daphnia Magna, and measured how fast the organisms multiplied or died out. After analyzing her results, she found that the observed cleanliness of the five water samples did not have an impact on reproduction indicating that the Lady Bird Lake water is relatively safe for the Daphnia Magna.
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These two projects highlight the value of contextualizing experiments, in an effort to render a conclusion to an investigation that might be helpful to other scientists or citizens. We want to highlight that Sophia’s project was an example of how a young scientist can design an experiment that is personally meaningful and how the project can leverage research and intentionality (like finding out which soaps are typical of the village). We also want to shine a light on the fact that Nefeli’s project leveraged her research and learning from the year prior; a science investigation that builds complexity over time can ultimately be very sophisticated.
Twelve Long-View scientists completed experiments for the GARSEF’s Junior Division, and 10 participated in the Elementary Division. Whether students are working with environmental science, engineering, physical science, psychology, microbiology, or other subjects, participating in Science Fair is a great way to explore science in an independent way, while still having an invested teacher to serve as a committed guide.
Both Nefeli and Sophia shared how they developed their researching skills during their ideation process. Interpreting difficult texts and transforming that knowledge into coherent testing strategies is exactly what Science Fair prepares participants for, and exactly what Long-View teaches its students every day. In guiding young scientists through this exhilarating, rewarding, and enriching process, we keep an eye towards “the long view”: We prepare Long-View learners to think critically, plan, and execute in order to succeed in their ambitions and innovations.