For East Vincent Elementary School fifth grader Carter Spiess, the Chester County Science Research Competition gave him the opportunity to find out something very important to him: The answer to the question which wood burns the longest.
As the family lumberjack, it’s Carter’s responsibility to cut, stack and fetch the firewood. So he figures if he can determine which type of wood burns the longest, the less he work he will have to do. His project was aptly named the “Lazy Lumberjack.”
(For all of you fellow lumberjacks out there, the answer to Carter's burning question is that Oak takes the longest to burn. Next year, Carter plans to find out if it burns the hottest as well.)
According to the competition’s coordinator, Dr. David Jarvie, this is just what he hopes to see at the fair: Student’s finding ways to use science to improve their daily lives.
“Naturally, the goal of the fair is to encourage and promote scientific inquiry among young people with the idea being that students learn science bydoing science.” Jarvie said. “However, when you see that the students are usingthe skills that they have learned in the classroom and applying them in usefulways in their lives, then you know that they truly understand the sciencebehind their projects. It’s very gratifying to see.”
Carter was not alone in his quest for practical scientific knowledge. Nearly 500 students entered 437 projects in categories ranging from biochemistry and botany to physics and zoology. Deepthi Shashidar, a senior at Great Valley High School, is well on her way to building a robot that can help out in the kitchen by emptying the dishwasher or grabbing a bottle of spice from the cabinet. Other students sought to find out if temperature affected sports’ balls, if expensive nail polish lasted longer than cheap nail polish, and if a neural network could be designed to predict the weather (sadly, not yet).
However, many students competing at the science fair were looking for more than just answers to their scientific inquiries. They also were competing for a chance to go to the Delaware Valley Science and the opportunity to earn their share of over nearly $1 million in college scholarships.
Of the 499 students participating in this year’s science fair, Unionville High School senior Brian Fieles took home top honors and received best of show,first place, level A for his project, “Determining the Effects of Bisphenol-A, a Component of Widely-Used Plastics, on Lower Organisms. Fieles also received the Chester County Future Scientist Award, which included a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble Book Store. Joining Fieles in the winner circle were Anna Lorine from Great Valley High School, second place, level A; Erin McAllister from Collegium Charter School, first place, level B; homeschooler Melissa Clark, second place,level B; Valentina Parisi from Unionville High School, third place, level B; Alec Ren from Great Valley High School, first place, level D; Andy Romine from Unionville High School, second place, level D; Perry Hopkins from Unionville High School, third place, level D; Taylor Jones from Patton Middle School, first place, level E; Siena Carroll from East Vincent Elementary School, second place, level E; and Radhika Chunduru from Peirce Middle School, third place, level E. (Complete list of winners.)
“The winners chosen to compete are in for an extremely challenging experience,” said Jarvie. “The judges are scientists from some rather lofty places in terms of their educationand the work that they do, including Nobel Prize winners. The students are expected to stay with their projects the entire day, as teams of judges will come by, ask questions and expect detailed explanations.”
However, their hard work may pay off rather well. Winners will have the opportunity to earn college scholarships as well as advance to the International Science Fair hosted this year in Reno, Nevada, May 10-16.
The Chester County science fair is a feeder fair to the Delaware Valley fair, which will be held at Great Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, March 31 –April 2. The competition will include some 900 students from the New Jersey,Delaware, and the southeastern Pennsylvania (39 of whom will be from Chester County). The Chester County Science Research Competition is sponsored and conducted by the Chester County Intermediate Unit. Sixth through 12th grade students competed onFebruary 24 at the Dr. Lucy Balian Rorke Fair at the United Sports Training Center in Downingtown; fourth and fifth graders competed in the Dr. Jonas Salk Fair held on the same day and also at United Sports.
