It was an exciting morning for the 5th Grade teams, whose hard work over the last two months culminated in a Science Fair where they presented their research and results.
This process, rooted in the Scientific Method, begins with a lengthy exploration of a topic of interest to each team, raising a question that they want to explore further. Assisted by Mentors, members of the Veritas community with a Scientific background, the teams formulate a hypothesis, design and run an experiment, collect data, present their findings in graphs and data tables, analyze their findings, and make conclusions about the results. Often, these conclusions include an analysis of how the design can be tweaked for better results.
The results were presented before judges, members of the Veritas Community who have at least a Masters or PhD in a Scientific field.
Winners of this year’s Science Fair include:
Thoroughness of Investigation and Research:
“Operation Sugar Cube” measuring the influence of sugar on reaction times
Scientific Thought:
“Caffeine and Heart Rate” measuring the effect of caffeine on heart rate testing Light Roast vs. Dark Roast
Clarity of Expression in Presentation:
“Age’s Effect on Taste '' testing adult and child reactions to levels of sugar.
Creativity of Approach:
“How Does Gender Affect Taste?” testing male and female reactions to levels of sugar.
For those of you who might be interested in the students’ results, light roast coffee seems actually to have had a greater effect on heart rate than dark roast (counter to the students’ hypothesis). Age apparently has no effect on the sense of taste but gender does. And finally, sugar does reduce reaction time, leading many students to conclude that their parents should allow them to have Gatorade before playing a sport!
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