Triton 4th graders showcase their science projects

Triton fourth graders showed off their science investigation skills last week at the Triton Elementary School Science Fair.

The projects were displayed in the gym during the school day with teams of judges from the community meeting with each student for an explanation of the project and how the student went about investigating it.

The fair was a little smaller this year, said teacher Alex Leider, because usually it involves fourth and fifth grade students. This year, however, the fifth grade will be having a “wax museum” where they learn all they can about a person from history.

All of the students in fourth grade did a project, Leider said. The rules were that the project was done at home by the student. Seventy-four projects were entered.

Science fair projects get very creative, he said. Students came up with their own projects, he said, through internet searches and some books of projects made available.

A number of the projects will be chosen to move on to the Zumbro Education District (ZED) Science Fair held later this spring.

One of the more creative projects, perhaps, was by Reagan Essig who wanted to know if chewing gum while studying could increase your memory skills. “Is gum a tool for school” was her project title.

Her investigation involved using playing cards to see if recalling cards to make matches was improved by chewing gum. She also used the same brand of gum for all people tested.

She explained she tested 10 people. As a group, she said, seven of the 10 did indeed score better while chewing gum. Still, that may be a hard sell to school administrators.

Eggs also got attention in several projects. Two of the projects involved soaking cooked eggs in various solutions. What was being tested was different – one involved color change and the other size – but both agreed on at least one point. If you soak a hard boiled egg in vinegar the shell will dissolve and the egg yolk become rubbery.

Alex Ortiz wanted to know what object would make a bigger “crater,” a rubber ball, a baseball or an orange. He dropped each item from two feet and four feet into a box filled with flour and cocoa. He figured the baseball would make the biggest crater since it was the heaviest. What he learned, he said, was the rubber ball made the biggest crater, not because of its weight but because it was bigger in size.

Other students learned, that based on their testing, more people like cookies that are baked after the dough has been in the refrigerator 15 minutes and that when offered toys kittens seem to each gravitate towards a specific color.