Southport Central School

Mood rings, vanishing eggs shells and more at science fair

Sat, 01/11/2020 - 8:30am

The culmination of weeks of work in the classroom and around the school resulted in an hour-long science fair for public viewing at Southport Central School on Thursday, Jan. 9.

Thirteen fourth, fifth and sixth graders stood by their handmade presentation boards, which included information about their various experiments, and answered questions from the 30 or so parents and community members who attended the event. The experiments varied from whether mood rings really work to whether a tennis ball bounces higher when it’s cold or when it’s hot.

Shawn Gallagher, the students’ teacher, explained how the science fair came about.

“Starting in November, students began researching topics for their presentations. Many classes were dedicated to discussing and investigating the scientific method as well as the ways we would go about conducting fair tests. Students were asked to complete write ups of their experiments that included identifying a scientific question, methods, materials, controls and variables. Once their proposal was approved, they went to work gathering materials to perform these tests at school. I was abundantly proud our fifth and sixth grade students who showed great leadership during our in-school and after-school work sessions. I am also eager to continue working with our fourth graders who demonstrated a thorough grasp of the scientific method. I can't wait to see what they create next year!”

Students participating in the fair were: Makayla Abbe, Abby Amaral, Madisyn Blackman, Lilly Burnham, Georgia Griffith, Sarah Harris, Harry Hinckley, Silas Kaler, Eleanor Marshall, Cameron Payson, Brayden Swope, Trey Tibbetts and Ella Watts.