Students flex mental muscles at science fair INVERNESS — - TopicsExpress

Students flex mental muscles at science fair INVERNESS — “Pee Pad Power.” “Pump it Up.” “The Suspense is Killing Me.” Titles of more than 300 projects in 19 categories showcased a wide range of creativity from the minds of miniature scientists at the annual Citrus Regional Science and Engineering Fair at the Citrus County Auditorium on Tuesday. Students from 21 Citrus County district schools, and some private school students, competed against one another for a chance to represent their school in April at the state science fair in Lakeland. However, the projects may be a little more complex than many grown-ups remember. “It is interesting to see over the years the shift in categories that become more and more competitive,” said science fair director Amanda Crawford. “At one point, environmental sciences was a huge category, with like 25 projects. That has now become a smaller category. In both middle and high school, chemistry has become the large category, with 30-plus projects. It is interesting to see what the students are now interested in and how it has shifted over the years. Every year, it depends on stuff going on in the world.” Topics ranged from how hairspray holds a curl to whitening toothpaste to which pet-training pad absorbed the most urine. “Science fair as a whole event is teaching the kids about the whole world around them, which is what science really is,” Crawford said. “When a child gets involved in science fair, they are able to see that things in the real world are all science. They see the connections between everything and science is not an isolated topic.” Each project began with a hypothesis that was either proven true or false. Students then displayed on their exhibits how they arrived at a conclusion and illustrated their work. Also, students were given the opportunity to enhance their projects with the utilization of their one-to-one devices. “For the last two years, the students were able to utilize their iPads as part of their presentation,” Crawford said. “They can have videos, pictures and data on them. They can’t pull up a website, but they could show documents and images that are a part of their presentation.” After a community judge tested the young scientists on their projects, scores were tallied. “We are looking forward to taking 20 students to state to represent Citrus County School District,” she said. Crawford explained that 20 students — 10 middle and 10 high school — will advance to the state science fair, where various awards and scholarships are awarded. Elementary school scientists will each receive a medal for their participation Friday. The announcement of the qualifiers for various awards will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Curtis Peterson Auditorium, 3810 W. Educational Path, Lecanto.