You don’t need to be of elementary school age to ponder the mysteries of the Universe, such as, which type of gum keeps its flavor the longest: regular or sugar-free? You can still be an adult and enjoy the sensory experience of making a model of a volcano spill and fizz by dumping a packet of Pop Rocks into it. And as Rochester Memorial School students demonstrated the evening of June 6 during the annual science fair, even kids can come up with solutions to global warming.
Meet the RMS students who put their minds together in the name of science to seek the answers to some of life’s most phenomenal phenomena, like Brock, Andrew, and Zack, a trio of second-graders who set out to discover if the flavor lasts longer in sugarless gum or in regular gum.
“We asked second graders which flavor lasts the longest,” said Brock. Twenty-eight guessed regular, while 27 guessed sugar-free gum. “I was surprised,” Brock said when he found out that it was indeed sugarless gum that kept its flavor the longest.
Andrew thought it would be sugar-free, he chimed in, satisfied that his hypothesis was correct.
Just across the way, second grade student Madison Detrani was carefully pouring baking soda into the kortous (top) of a model volcano, and mixing vinegar with red dye and pouring it in. Next, she delighted in emptying a packet of cherry Pop Rocks into the mix to release a sizzling solution of fizzing lava down the sides of the volcano.
“It (the Pop Rocks) makes it have a bubbling sound,” Detrani said.
Strolling through the cafetorium, one passed an abundance of ‘sciency’ secrets solved, as well as how the groups came up with the conclusions to their provocative questions. Can eggs bounce? (Yes, gently). What solution is best for keeping an apple slice from turning brown? (Lemon juice).
Blake Gagne, second grade, took another approach to his science project, setting out to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems: saving the world from global warming.
Gagne explored the way animal flatulence creates methane gas that, in turn, contributes to climate change. He thought up a good way to effectively capture that methane gas before it escapes into the atmosphere. His preferred method was a “methane-capturing device” – a diaper, essentially, filled with coffee grounds.
Gagne displayed a photo of a cow wearing a crude form of a diaper, and he tested the method with his own dog, Chloe. He spent four hours observing his dog with her methane-capturing device tied around her bottom to capture her occasional bursts of methane. He not only tried filling it with coffee grounds, but he also tried charcoal, and found that both likely would do the job okay.
Chloe, Gagne said, was indeed very cooperative, and likely earned him a prize in the Science Fair.
“This is phenomenal,” said RMS Principal Derek Medeiros. “This is the epitome of hands-on learning. This is what kids can get passionate about … and it’s great.”
By Jean Perry
