Middle-schoolers explore the world of science

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Since submitting proposals at the beginning of 2014, grade 7-8 students at SeDoMoCha Middle School have been busy working on projects for the annual science fair. On the evening of April 8 the pupils, who could choose to work on their own or with a partner, presented their findings to the public with science fair projects on display in the cafeteria and adjacent multipurpose room.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE — On the evening of April 8 the public had the opportunity to see what SeDoMoCha Middle School seventh- and eighth-graders have been working on the last few months as the students presented their projects at a science fair at the Dover-Foxcroft school. Jacob Marsh, a grade 7 pupil, compared a pair of chemical reactions for his “elephant toothpaste” experiment, and he said the contents pouring up and out the large beakers resembled toothpaste coming out of the tube.

    “I did head injuries,” seventh-grader Matt Spooner said about his project “Head Injuries and the Effectiveness of Helmets.” Spooner said he sustained a concussion earlier in the school year and wanted to explore the injury and possible prevention methods further.
    “We bought watermelons at the grocery store and used a baseball helmet I had,” Spooner said, explaining holes were drilled into the fruit in order to secure the watermelon on a pole with a base to keep it upright before the helmet was put on. The equipped watermelon was then struck with a Wiffle ball bat from various angles to replicate possible scenarios that can lead to a concussion.
    Spooner said some watermelons were bruised and others had juice dripping down after being struck. “I figured out a helmet does not prevent concussions from happening but it lessened the force that came through,” he said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    HANDS-ON PROJECT — Comparing the sensitivity of the dominant vs. non-dominant hand was the subject of eighth-grader Bailey Weston’s science project with five right-handed participants and five southpaws putting their hands in cold water for Weston to then test them.

    Eighth-graders Breyer Manchester and RJ Nelson explored whether video games can lead to an adrenaline rush in their project. “We tested blood pressure before doing the experiments to see how much it would change,” Nelson said. Like their peers, Nelson and Manchester’s project had a cardboard trifold and theirs included information such as the adrenaline glands being located above the kidneys and blood pressure is measured with a systolic reading over a reading for diastolic.
    “We found you do get an adrenaline rush from video games,” Nelson said, saying 75 percent of their test subjects had both blood pressure indicators rise. “We found the more mad people got, the higher their adrenaline got.”
    Manchester explained those taking part in their experiment played the games “Flappy Bird” and “IronPigs” on tablet devices. Nelson hypothesized that video gamers may get even more of an adrenaline rush from a first-person shooter game.
    Seventh-grader Gavyn Moreshead also decided to examine video games with his science project asking, “Do video games affect the body, and if so how?” He explained that he had a test subject group ranging in age from 8-40 who he used to measure different impacts on their bodies.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    SOMETHING’S FISHY — Eighth-graders Avery Nelson, left, and Jenna Clukey bred guppies as an experiment for their science project at SeDoMoCha Middle School, comparing two types of aquariums to see which resulted in a larger guppy population. A panel of judges chose Nelson and Clukey’s project for second-place honors.

    For pain tolerance, “I poked them 10 times with a toothpick before they played the game,” Moreshead said. While the gamers were busy they were poked again and “most of them did not feel it because they were focused on something else,” he said, as the video game “Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed” for Xbox 360 was used in Moreshead’s project.
    He also found that those playing the video game had their heart rate go up, which Moreshead said could be beneficial as a form of exercise.
    Instead of using humans as guinea pigs, seventh-graders Lexi London and Mariah Poulin decided to use the real thing in their experiment. “We took these animals and tested how they responded to music,” Poulin said about their “Animal Reaction” project.
    “One day I was in my room and my guinea pig started squeaking and we wanted to see if other animals acted this way,” London said, with her pet present for the April 8 science fair. The two tested several types of music on the guinea pig, three dogs and a mouse, and some sounds drew responses while others did not.
    Eighth-grader Bailey Weston decided to test sensitivity in the dominant hand for his project. “My hypothesis is the dominant hand would be less sensitive but the results showed the opposite,” Weston said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    PROTECTING THE MELON — Grade 7 student Matt Spooner decided to look into effectiveness of helmets in preventing head injuries for his science project. Spooner used watermelons, equipped with a baseball helmet, for his test subjects as the fruit was then subjected to hits from a Wiffle ball bat.

    He had 10 test subjects, five who are right-handed and the other five being southpaws, submerge one hand at a time in 40-degree water for as long as they could stand. “I would ask them questions, how they were feeling and if they had any pain,” Weston said.
    His results determined that right-handed test subjects kept their left hand in the water longer, and vice-versa for the other half of the group. Weston said only a few had their hands in the cold water for the four-minute limit — after which frost bite can set in — and these were all middle-aged men.
    Grade 7 student Jacob Marsh looked the part of a scientist at the science fair, wearing a white lab coat and having several large beakers on display. Marsh said he tested whether mixing 30 percent hydrogen peroxide with iodine or 3 percent hydrogen peroxide with yeast would create a bigger reaction.
    Marsh had photos of his experiments, with both mixtures causing the contents to explode up and out of the beakers into the air. “The reason it’s called elephant toothpaste is when it goes over the top it looks like toothpaste coming out of the tube,” he said.
    While Marsh created a chemical reaction, seventh-graders Shyla Raymond and Julia Brasslett sought to assist in the process of creating new life with an egg-hatching experiment. Their display provided information on both the chicken and the egg, which can vary in shell color.
    Raymond and Brasslett’s project had several eggs for fair-goers to look at, as well as a flock of four-day-old chicks inside a heated enclosure.
    During the science fair a panel of judges walked around to examine all of the projects, and attendees could submit their selections for the People’s Choice award. Near the end of the science fair grade 7 science teacher Mary Povak and eighth-grade teacher Lindsay Noyes announced the winners in four different categories.
    The People’s Choice science fair honor went to eighth-graders Austin Bickmore and Ben Kelly. Grade 8 students swept third through first place with Morgana Vick having the third-place project, Jenny Clukey and Avery Nelson placing second and sisters Charlotte and Gabby Jolin taking first-place honors at the 2014 SeDoMoCha Middle School science fair.