Student curiosity highlighted at Meneley science fair

Every year, children's natural curiosity is unleashed during Meneley Elementary School's science fair.

On Nov. 16, that curiosity was embodied in 193 projects displayed in the school's gym. The majority of projects came from the fourth, fifth and sixth grade, but there were also three class projects from the second grade.

"It's important for children to look at the world and wonder why," said teacher and event organizer Cathy Hackler. "Doing an inquiry-process project enables them to think of a question, design an experiment and find out if what they think will happen does happen, if their hypothesis is correct."

Meneley Principal Becky Rugger, who studied to be a chemistry and math teacher in college, said science sparks the magic of the imagination.

"Kids making discoveries is what it's all about," she said.

Discovery can be as simple as answering a question that has haunted children for years: what happens when Mentos are added to soda?

It's the same question sixth-grader Dean Cummins set out to discover with his experiment, Explosive Soda. The 11-year-old tested three different types of soft drink: Sprite, Barq's Root Beer and Diet Coke. Each bottle received four Mentos, and each resultant geyser was measured against the constant variable of Dean's 4-foot, 8-inch friend.

"Diet Coke was the highest," Dean reported. "Sprite was not that close. Root beer was pretty high but not as high as Diet Coke."

Prior to the experiment, Dean had been curious about the reactive phenomenon known in certain circles as Coke-Mentos fusion.

"I think there's stuff on top of the Mentos that makes the reaction," he said.

While Dean was testing soda pop, 11-year-old Leeland Smith was pushing the limits of tomatoes in his experiment, Rotting Tomatoes.

"I saw my mom cutting tomatoes, and one was rotten - that's how I got the idea to do it," the fifth-grader explained.

Leeland tested nine tomatoes, divided into three groups, against the relative wattage of different light bulbs. He observed and recorded the time it took for each group to putrefy. The tomatoes exposed to a 60-watt bulb turned bad in approximately a week, while the group exposed to 70 watts of light lasted five days before putrescence. The three tomatoes under the shine of a 100-watt bulb began to rot after only three days of exposure.

"The hotter the light, the faster it rots," Leeland safely concluded.

In a broader sense, the student said he's interested in exploring more sciences.

"I kind of want to study the ocean," he said.

Making the leap from tomatoes to marine life is exactly what organizers of the science fair hope to inspire. But the event wouldn't be as successful without the dozens of volunteers from the community who pitch in every year to judge the projects.

"Science is fascinating," said Gardnerville resident Merrilyn Noble, a surgical nurse.

Noble was one of 36 judges in attendance on Nov. 16, many hailing from Douglas County Search and Rescue.

"It's not like math where there is only one answer," Noble continued. "Science changes all the time."

Rugger said the science fair draws the community into school life.

"It has become much more of a family event than just individual students with their assignments," she said.

This year all first place projects will be entered in the Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Lawlor Events Center in March, 2011.

6th grade

1st place Grace Brooks, Fire Burning

Jared Swensen, Ice Cylindars

Breanna Ross-Dee , Moldy Burgers

2nd place Kelsey McGillivray, Bouncy Balls

Ty Dodd, Who is Higher?

Isaiah Schat, Sparkling Pennies

Nick Solano, Long lasting Batteries

Adrian Michel, Crunchy Apples

3rd place Ben Hallinan, Keeping It Cool

Connor Brown, Bean a Mania

Ethan Craik, Weapons of Mass Destruc- tion

Jordan Trauner, Cookie Surprise

Matthew Romanowitz, Water vs Gatorade

5th grade

1st place Sarah Grove, Soda vs Water

Ivy Stiles, Hand Washing: A Critical Issue

Kyla Hinnant, Buds Delight

Ann Keasling, Active vs Sedentary

Olivia Tahti, Waxing Away the Time

2nd place Noah Veucasovic, Red Cabbage Water Col- ors

Mackenzie Craik, Got Volts?

3rd place Christian Garcia, Vitamin C

Jace Hurtado, Super Duper Rubber Band

Brady McLaughlin, Evaporation

Austin Aiken, Smoke Be Gone

Jon Williams, Plant Survival

4th grade

1st place Anthony Anderson, Expanding Water

Leah Ramsey-Kruse, Hand Dominance

Tyler Kellar, Bathroom Bacteria

2nd place Ayden Murphy, Vegetation vs Water Pollu- tion

Dario Watroba, Thunder and Lightning

Olivia Welch, Temperature Variation

Shannon O'Connor, Penny Shine

3rd place Sam Whilden, Dancing Fish!

Kimberlee Courtney, Traveling Light

2nd grade

1st place Mrs. Michel's Class, Magic Markers

Mrs. Valiquette's Class, Now You See It, Now You Don't!

Mrs. Gumm's Class, Pop! Pop! Pop!