PERU — Students of Kristi Holmquist and Erin Deprey’s fourth-grade class presented their science fair experiments to other students and parents Friday afternoon at Dirigo Elementary School.
Holmquist said the students had to “answer a burning question, or an essential question” through an experiment.
“I asked that they choose a topic to talk about that can help them in their everyday living,” she said. “They would answer the question by conducting an experiment, running tests and gathering and measuring data.”
Students were allowed to choose their own experiments to perform, though Holmquist said there were some limitations on what they were allowed to do.
“They couldn’t use animals or pets to experiment on, and they had to limit how much they could use another person in their experiment,” Holmquist said. “Also, they couldn’t experiment on a question that asks, ‘Which type of food tastes better?’ I tried to explain to them the difference between opinions and facts.”
As part of the science fair, the students were asked to set three conditions for their test and to run three tests for each condition, for a total of nine tests.
“I also encouraged that the students work with their families on the project, and to work together on the testing and the creation of their poster,” Holmquist said.
Some students came up with questions that were not able to be proven, such as whether it’s possible to power a lightbulb using a potato, electrical wire and a metal washer.
Student Sam Benson said that his mother found an experiment on Facebook in which you could test which liquid would result in the best growth of plants: water, juice or soda. He discovered that soda resulted in the best plant growth.
Student Travis Wright, who said he prefers math and writing to science, came up with an experiment that involved mixing petroleum jelly, highlighter liquid and laundry detergent separately into one ounce each of club soda, seltzer water and tonic water to see which of the liquids glowed the brightest under a black light.
Wright said that he came up with the idea from a science magazine.
Upon completing the experiment, Wright said he discovered that club soda mixed with highlighter liquid glowed the brightest under a black light.
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