Leah Aiono with her Biological yoghurt-making project. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Leah Aiono with her Biological yoghurt-making project. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Recently Year 6-8 students gathered at the Rutherford Junior High Gymnasium for the annual Regional Science Fair. Students stood beside their science fair exhibits to explain in depth about their projects while judges assessed their work.
These experiments had been carried out over a long period of time with thestudents having devised their test, carried it out and recorded it fully in order to display it on a board.
Experiments included such diverse topics as identifying spices, adapting fins to make swimming more efficient, using greywater on the garden, drying clothes in the microwave and even discovering whether chewing gum could make you smarter.
Placings were given for each section as well as a number of merit awards. Leigh-ana Hale (Environmental) , Connor Hoskin (Technological), Sophie Brooke (Chemical) and Joe Hazelhurst (Physical) all from Wanganui Intermediate, were winners at the Year 7 and 8 level, while Luke and Caleb Squire from Brunswick School were judged the best of the Year 6 entrants. Zac McKenzie (Wanganui Intermediate) won the Statistics prize.
The Biological section winner and overall first placegetter was Leah Aiono (a Year 7 student from Wanganui Intermediate) with her experiment "Get Cultured (the art and science of yoghurt making)".
Leah tested the pH levels of yoghurt to determine whether the length of time in the incubator and the fat content in the starting milk affects the acidity of the yoghurt. Each test took approximately eleven hours to carry out and she did six in all.
Both carrying out the experiment and presenting it for display were time consuming for Leah who also does ballet, modern dance, singing and piano. Already some students are planning their next year's experiment.
