INNISFAIL – It was a day to learn about and explore the world of science.
Grade 9 students at Innisfail High School had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of science during Innisfail High School’s annual Science Fair on Feb. 27.
“Basically, it’s a thirst for knowledge, which is what science should be,” said Trevor Wooff, Grade 9 science teacher and one of the organizers for the event. “It’s part of their grade, part of their Grade 9 science mark and so it’s a requirement. The idea is we want them to work on a big project that involves science, mostly on their own with very little help from us, based on what they’ve learned and what’s interested them."
In Grade 9 science students learn everything from biodiversity, chemistry, and electricity to space, and earth and environmental material, noted Wooff.
“We have 96 Grade 9 students but we had basically 44 projects. Most of them pair up,” he added, noting projects were divided into three types: a science experiment, research project or study, and an innovation project.
“Most of them lean towards either the experiment or the study/research,” said Wooff, adding that every year they see a variety of science fair projects that range in different subjects.
Megan Graham and her science fair partner Natalia Billings did a project on testing the NHL’s theory of freezing hockey pucks before a game.
They conducted experiments with frozen and non-frozen pucks.
“The frozen pucks were better,” said Billings of their findings.
Olivia Bergeron and her science fair partner Kallie Fay did a project on dissolving Styrofoam to repurpose it as a building material.
“It makes it environmentally friendly,” said Bergeron, of their project results.
Students were judged on their projects by fellow grade 11 and 12 students, and were awarded in different areas.
“We have four categories that they can win first, second or third (place) in. They are applied sciences, life sciences, physical sciences and earth and environmental,” said Wooff. “Then we have best of fair overall.
“I’ve encouraged them all to pick something they’re interested in, something they want to learn more about and maybe take that science or information and knowledge to the next level,” he added.
Several top projects are chosen to compete in the Regional Science Fair in Red Deer later this year.
“We’ve had lots of students in the past go there and be quite successful, win prizes and also go on to the national fair,” Wooff concluded.
