BES hosts annual science fair

Young Einsteins last week demonstrated their developing genius when Barrhead Elementary School hosted its annual science fair.

A total of 45 projects were on display at the elementary school’s gymnasium on March 3. Sixty-five students put together the projects, which ranged from studies of sharks to homemade sports drinks. Many residents in the community volunteered their time to help judge the exhibits and help determine the winning projects.

Grade 4 student, Teron Callihoo, spent several weeks incubating chicken eggs and hatching chicks. His project won first place in his grade category, and it’s his second year in a row taking home the top honours. Through his science project, Callihoo wanted to determine whether eggs hatch better if turned by hand, or with an electronic egg timer. His experiment determined that turning the eggs by hand is the better method, but it’s more time consuming.

“It takes more time, but they turn out better,” he said.

Callihoo lives on a farm, which made this particular experiment a natural choice. He started the incubation phase of his project on Feb. 8, and hatched his first chicks on Feb. 28. Thirteen chicks were hatched.

“I’ve always liked chickens and chicks, and I thought of this project by myself.”

The brother-sister duo of Wayne and Melissa Wruk captured third place in the Grade 5 category with their Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex project. Melissa, who is in Grade 5, and Wayne, who is in 3, learned quite a bit about the meat-eating dinosaur through their research. They learned that the Tyrannosaurus Rex had very sharp teeth that measured about six inches in length, and small arms that measured only three feet in length. They also know that the Tyrannosaurus Rex lived 65-85 million years ago, and weighed on average eight tons.

The Wruks were among the more enthusiastic students at the science fair, and were more than willing to demonstrate the sounds made by dinosaurs, as well as how a Tyrannosaurus Rex ran.

“We like dinosaurs,” they both said, adding they got the idea from watching movies like Jurassic Park. They started working on their project in mid-February.

It was up to the judges to give marks to each participant in the science fair, which eventually led to the top four projects for each grade. Students from grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 participated. Furthermore, students from Fort Assiniboine travelled to Barrhead to take part in the fair.

Audrey Kluin was a first-time judge for the science fair. She said she was amazed by how the participants got so excited about their projects, and that demonstrated the quality of students Pembina Hills Regional Division No. 7 has in its division.

“I really liked listening to them explain their projects,” Kluin said. “It was interesting to see the results and just how much work they put into their research.”

As the Learning Technologies co-ordinator for PHRD, Kluin said it was nice to see some of the students with their laptops out and using them to show judges information about their experiments. She said the judging format is laid out very well, and the fact the projects are so well done helped make the process easier.

“The organizers do such a good job with this science fair,” she said.

The Barrhead Elementary School Science Fair committee is comprised of Lou Steeves, Chrissie Epp, Laurie Brinsky, Janelle Cloutier, Jaime Fisher and Dana Febbarro. They all put a great deal of work into organizing the science fair, and they were all happy with the outcome.

“We had less projects this year, but we are still happy with the fair,” Epp said. “All of the participants did an excellent job.”

Epp and Steeves said the science fair is a great community event, because there are many businesses in Barrhead that support it, and many other people volunteer their time to judge the students.

“It’s a very positive experience,” Steeves said. “It gives the judges a chance to mingle and see what’s happening with the students.”

Science fair winners were given cash rewards for their efforts, and every participant was given a lift pass for Misty Ridge Ski Hill. First-place winners each received $100 (or $50 each for projects with two people); second-place winners each received $80; third-place winners each received $50; while fourth-place winners each received $25.

Grade 3 winners were: First – Teagan Kager and Hayley Anderson, with their project Why are sea turtles endangered?; second – Jessica Belanger and Portia Kuharic with their project The moon; third – Caleb Klump with his project How do airplanes fly?; fourth – Maci Reschke, with a project called Magic Milk.

Grade 4 winners were: First – Teron Callihoo with his project Hatching Chicken Eggs; second – Reece Cerny and Ashlyn Rentz with their project Does candy rot your teeth?; third – John Rauscher with his project How do differences in surfaces affect tape adhesion?; fourth – a tie between Sinead O’Neill with How strong is your paper towel, and Ashley McCarthy with Sharks – friend or foe?

Grade 5 winners were: First – a tie between Ryley Stephani with The difference of a bubbler, and Shaelynn Jones and Riana Tauscher with Supernova; second – a tie between Reagan Bombay and Angela Johnson with How are ice caves made and what’s inside them, and Jenelle Hintz with How does lung cancer start; third – Melissa and Wayne Wruk with their project Dinosaur: Tyrannosaurus Rex; fourth – Jennifer Kristel and Maddy Acres with their project Penguins vs. Puffins.

Grade 6 winners: first – Jace Callihoo with his project Sports drinks; second – Vonnie Schneider and Paige Pomerleau with their project on Bees; third – John Whitehead and Alexandra Kopf with their project on Mold; fourth – Carly Lawrence with her project Achoo.