The student union at Scotts Valley High School was abuzz the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 29, as students from Vine Hill Elementary, with their respective entourages of siblings, parents and grandparents, attended the Vine Hill Science Fair.
The annual fair is open to all Vine Hill Elementary students from kindergarten through fifth grade and is run by parents and volunteers.
Denise Gurer, chair of the event, said 114 students took part, in addition to classroom projects. Participation in the science fair, Gurer said, is not a mandatory part of the Vine Hill Elementary curriculum. Instead, it’s designed to encourage children to develop an interest in science.
Gurer, who has a master’s degree in physics and a doctorate in computer science, has helmed the science fair the past four years.
“I love seeing how excited the kids get about science,” Gurer said. “I like working with them better than I do other scientists.”
The participating students could choose to do an experiment using the scientific method — including a hypothesis, procedure and results — to demonstrate their entries.
Students could also opt to do a “learn and explain” project, wherein they chose a scientific subject of interest and created a report and display on the topic.
The resulting projects covered a wide variety of subjects, from using magnets to demonstrate the iron content in U.S. currency and breakfast cereals to studying the time it takes for mold to grow on dairy products and the amount of bacteria on everyday surfaces, such as doorknobs.
Kindergartner Jack Brownfield, 6, spent several days working with his father, Rod, to test the strength of Dixie-brand paper cups. After several tests, the duo determined that a single cup, when placed upside down, can support 15 pounds indefinitely.
“We went through a lot of Dixie cups,” the elder Brownfield said with a smile.
The judging was done in two divisions: kindergarten through third grade, and fourth and fifth grades. Five entries were selected from each division.
The winners of the kindergarten-through-third-grade division were Elleda Spitzer for “Candy Chemistry”; Gabe Spitzer for “How Many Balloons Does it Take to Lift a 7-year-old”; Jonathan Harding for “Genetics vs. Food”; Solange Charlet and Catelyn Reynolds for “Door Knob Germs”; and Joelle Andrews and Katie Branagan for “The Effects of Sunlight on the Water Cycle.”
The winners of the fourth- and fifth-grade division were Megan Gurer for “The Cat’s Meow”; John Neef for “Popcorn Preference”; Eloise Johnson for “The Nose Knows”; Vincent Beraut and Trevor Wiechmann for “Magnetic Force”; and Connor Pursley for “The Pressure Science of Dry Ice.”
All winners will compete in the Santa Cruz County Science Fair, set for March.
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