One thing about elementary school science fairs: you never know what you’ll encounter. This year’s fair at Arrow Heights Elementary School was no exception.
Invited, for the second time, as a judge I had a great time looking at the experiments dreamed up by local students from tests for bacteria on household items to an experiment that saw a Grade 4 student isolating and extracting raw DNA from pea plants to a wind tunnel, a marketing preference test and, of course, volcanoes.
I know all the other judges had a great time, too, as most of them were — like me — repeats.
Naturally, I also saw this as an opportunity to snap a photos when I wasn’t judging the children’s experiments. You can see the results of my photographic efforts below:
RCMP Gary McLaughlin got to play the role of judge at the Arrow Heights Elementary School Science Fair on Thursday where he learned all about butterflies from the Grade Ones. David F. Rooney photoGrade 5 students Melina and Ashley had a very interesting Lotion Experiment that measured the preferences of 30 people when it came to an all-natural product and a Vaseline product. David F. Rooney photoYoung Jon had a great time setting off his volcano again and again with the help of Teaching Assistant Sandra Murray. David F. Rooney photoBuild your own wind tunnel? Why not? That's what Spencer and Kees did at the AHE Science Fair on Thursday. You can see a model of an aircraft being tested through the porthole in the side of their tunnel. David F. Rooney photoGrade 4 student Alana's experiment was truly cutting edge — she used some ordinary kitchen utensils and household items like a blender and alcohol to extract DNA from peas. David F. Rooney photoHannah, a Grade 3 student, shows off one of the failed products in her experiment that tested the reliability of sandwich bag. The el-cheapo brand failed when subjected to a rapidly expanding gas while the more expensive product remained intact. David F. Rooney photoEveryone loves volcanoes and this one attracted a crowd five deep at the AHE Science Fair on Thursday. David F. Rooney photo
