April 22, 2016 at 1:46 p.m.
NCES students show off science projects
NCES students show off science projects
By Kayla Thomason-
"The theme was science so each grade chose a topic under that," said second-grade teacher Kristin Guiette. "We chose landfills, plastic, recycling and compost."
The students also learned about body systems, electricity, weather and more.
They made posters, found facts about the topics and participated in a recycling drive.
The second-grade students' compost will be added to the garden at the school, which the first-graders will plant later.
Second-grader Atoli Hildebrand made a bench that included a cupholder made out of plastic containers.
The class also learned about the impact plastic has on the ecosystem.
"I learned that there is a giant island in the Pacific that's called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," she said. "It's nothing else but trash and plastic and dead stuff and birds have died."
Hildebrand also learned that the plastic that holds cases of soda bottles together wreaks havoc on the wildlife.
"Turtles can get stuck in that and their shell can form around it and it kills them," she said. "Also stuff gets caught in fishs' gums."
Another student, Hunter Bell, made a rocket out of plastic bottles, a red Solo cup, a heart-shaped chocolate box and more.
He said he learned to reduce, reuse, recycle, and that plastic waste is deadly.
"It kills over 100-something animals a year," he said.
Gabby Secora and Brooke Lawton, both third-graders, dissected fortified cereal with magnets. The cereal was soaked in water and the girls stirred the contents with a magnetic stick.
"We stir it (the water and cereal mixture) and sometimes there's iron on (the stick) and we wipe it on a napkin and then you can see some black stuff which is the iron," Gabby said, adding that she learned that magnets with opposite polarity attract. She liked that they could attract and pull apart different things.
Students weren't the only one who gained new knowledge, family members did as well.
Debra Lawton, grandmother of Brooke, was surprised by her grandchild's exhibit.
"I didn't realize you could separate the iron from cereal by adding water and then spreading it out," she said. "It's pretty cool."
"I think it's good that they do this with each other as groups or something because 20 years ago each student had to do their own science fair project and this way they have a partner-in-crime, get it done together," she added.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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