Fair Grove Science Fair a Success

On Wednesday, May 18, biology Students as well as 5th grade science students put on a Science Fair, open to the elementary as well as middle and high school.

This year was Lindsay Dunning’s first teaching high school biology, and this science fair was an added change.  “I know Fair Grove used to do a science fair with high school science students because when I went to high school here I remember doing one,” Dunning said. She also added that she used to do a similar science fair with students at her old school, so she wanted to bring one back to Fair Grove.

Biology students got into groups of two or three, and were tasked with coming up with an experiment, as well as making a board to present their process and results. Dunning explained, “It could be about any topic they wanted, something they were interested in, as long as they were able to apply the scientific method to answer a question.”

Emma Padgett (9) described her project that she did with Reese Wells (9), “Me and my partner Reese Wells are doing an experiment with the closing speed of a Venus Fly Trap based on the type of light they were under. We have four different plants, two of them under sunlight and the other using a plant light every week to two weeks.” The two girls fed each venus fly trap through the duration of their experiment. They then measured the speed that each Venus Fly Trap closed and recorded it.

Every elementary class got to come and look at all the science fair projects. Mrs Dunning said there are two benefits to this. “One, for my students to know they have an audience. I think this makes them want to work harder on their projects if they know they are presenting to a wide audience,” Dunning said. She also mentioned that the science fair can get elementary students excited for what’s to come for them in high school science.

Jax Jones is a third grader who got to visit the science fair. “My favorite part of the science fair was walking around and learning things with all my friends. It felt like you were on a mission to find cool stations and learn new things,” Jax said. He said his favorite presentation was a dry ice experiment, done by Bradley Blecher and Mason Burgess. “I thought it was cool that it made an infinite amount of smoke, it was the first time I ever saw something like that,” Jax added.

All in all, biology students and visitors agreed the science fair was a big success and it will definitely happen again next year. “I have heard a lot of positive feedback so I do think that the science fair was a success. My students all felt really good, tired, but very good about it afterwards,” Dunning said.