Grade 7-8 scientists share their findings with the world
By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer
DOVER-FOXCROFT — For several months seventh- and eighth-graders at the SeDoMoCha Middle School have been developing projects — either on their own or in pairs — for the annual science fair. On the evening of April 7 the students presented their findings to the public with projects on display in the cafeteria and adjacent multipurpose room.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PET FEEDING SYSTEM INVENTION — SeDoMoCha Middle School eighth-grader Kelly Watt examined the health impact of free vs. scheduled pet feeding for her project at the annual grade 7-8 science fair on April 7. Watt invented a timed feeding bowl, and determined that scheduled feedings are healthier for dogs and cats, which earned her a “Maine State Science Fair Science Fair Star” honor.
Grade 8 student Elisabeth Carlson said she wanted to determine how long a pair of coolers could preserve a block of ice, with one storage unit containing straw and the other without the material. Carlson said she put both coolers to the test by placing the items next to a pellet stove, and after a day and a half the cooler with straw still had some ice whereas the second cooler contained just water.
“I tested the impact of a broadhead, how deep it would penetrate in the target,” eighth-grader Adam Dulac said about the impact of the bow tip vs. a bullet point. “The fixed broadband only beat the bullet point by an inch, it’s not really a big difference.”
“We tested on four different people to see how they reacted to a magic trick,” seventh-grader Angel Ray said about the science fair project she worked on with classmate Austin Gil. She said the test subjects needed to locate the ace in four different decks of cards, and one of the four participants was able to successfully find the sought after cards.
Seventh-grader Maranda Poulin said she wanted to how many dogs were right or left pawed. “I thought most were right pawed and asked them to shake and then I put a treat on their nose,” Poulin said.
With video footage of her experiment playing on her laptop, Poulin showed three dogs sticking out a paw to shake and then which paw the pets used to help get the treat off their snout. Poulin said she conducted each test four times on the three dogs, and she determined two dogs were right pawed and the other was a southpaw.
Grade 8 pupil Megan Fuller explained her project “Analytic Comparison of Oviparous Gestation Methods” involved trying to hatch 10 chicken eggs with a heat lamp and another 10 with an incubator. “I hypothesized that the incubator would do better,” Fuller said.
All of the students needed to devise a hypothesis to then carry out, and Fuller’s turned out to be correct. She said a half dozen of the incubator eggs hatched by the end of 23 days, while none of the heat lamp eggs resulted in chicks.
For her project, eighth-grader Kelly Watt invented an animal feeding device as she researched “if it is healthier for pets to use free feeding vs. scheduling.”
Watt designed a bowl, for a cat or a dog, with a 12-hour clock mechanism to provide portions of food for the pets. She said scheduled feeding “is healthier because it limits how much they can eat.”
Grade 7 student Triston Green made gliders out of three materials to see which had the greatest flight distance. Green said he cut paper, craft foam and poster board using the “Thompson Jagwing glider design.”
With five test runs for each glider, Green said the poster board model traveled the greatest distance, followed by craft foam and then paper.
Three students opted to use free throw shooting in their experiments.
“I tested muscle memory between genders,” eighth-grader Jacob Raynes said. He said 10 grade 7-8 boys and 10 grade 7-8 girls — all of whom are basketball players — attempted some foul shots in the school gym with a regulation-sized basketball for their gender and then tried another set of free throws with the other type of basketball.
“I wanted to see what the increase or decrease free throw percentage was,” Raynes said. He said the girls’ shooting percentage decreased 13 percent when the experiment participants used a boy’s ball.
“The boys increased 4 percent, which went against my hypothesis,” Raynes said.
Seventh-grader Luke Greenlaw tested the impact of caffeine on foul shooting. He said he asked nine experiment participants, who all played on one of SeDoMoCha’s basketball teams, to attempt 10 shots from the free throw line.
With this data recorded, Greenlaw then had his test subjects drink eight ounces of Mountain Dew, wait five minutes and then shoot 10 more shots from the charity stripe. Greenlaw said seven of the nine converted more free throws the second time, so he concluded that caffeine does improve free throw shooting.
“I had 12 participants shoot five free throws and then run five down and backs,” seventh-grader Logan Martin said about his science fair project, mentioning that early in the process he did not know two other students were also testing various impacts on foul shooting.
“When you are mentally fatigued you are not as focused and when you are physically fatigued your form is affected,” Martin said. He said his test subjects had a 65 shooting percentage to start but after running the length of the multipurpose room five times only shot 20 percent from the line.
Martin said he had a dozen boys take part who all play the sport for their school. “That’s why I preferred to do basketball players because they all have experience with this,” he said. “I was on the team and that’s why I did it.”
As the students exhibited their projects for the public, a panel of judges walked around and those in attendance could make selections for the People’s Choice Award. At the conclusion of the science fair grade 8 science teacher Lindsay Noyes announced the winners.
The People’s Choice project was that carried out by seventh-grader Mimi Cameron. Watt was presented with a “Maine State Science Fair Science Fair Star” honor.
Honorable mention recognition was given to seventh-grader Annabelle Rhoda and Abbi Tetreault in grade 8.
The duo of Kelli Black and Maren O’Connell were honored with the third-place project and placing second was eighth-grader Mackenzie Harmon. The 2016 SeDoMoCha Middle School Science Fair first-place project belonged to eighth-grader Jacob Ireland.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
BAT BOYS — For their experiment SeDoMoCha Middle School seventh-graders Samuel Robinson, left, and Isaac Drury examined the impact of baseballs hit off both wooden and aluminum bats.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
KEEPING COOL — Grade 8 student Elisabeth Carlson compared a cooler of ice with straw to a container without the material, seeing which could maintain the ice for a longer duration when placed near a pellet stove.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
RIGHT PAW VS. SOUTHPAW — SeDoMoCha Middle School seventh-grader Maranda Poulin tested the dominant paws of three dogs for her project in the school’s annual science fair. Several times Poulin had each canine shake and get a treat off its snout, taking note of which front paw the dog used for the tasks.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
EGGS-PERIMENT — Megan Fuller, an eighth-grader, compared the hatching process of 10 chicken eggs by a heat lamp with another 10 in an incubator. A half dozen incubator eggs hatched while the heat lamp resulted in no chicks.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
TRIO OF FREE THROW EXPERIMENTS — Luke Greenlaw tested the impact of caffeine consumption on foul shooting for his science fair experiment. Greenlaw was one of several SeDoMoCha Middle School students who had free throws as the basis of their projects.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
THROUGH THE AIR — Seventh-grader Triston Green tested gliders made from three different materials to see which provides the greatest flight distance.