TRURO - Emma MacEachern got used to people staring at her Tuesday afternoon.
The Grade 7 Truro Junior High School student drew attention as she sat down, put on a hard hat and waited for a colour ball to be attached to a meter stick that was connected to the hat. The meter stick was then rotated from the back of her head towards her eyes. The odd sight was a lesson in colours and peripheral vision.
"It's a very original idea," said MacEachern of her regional science fair project "Can You See It? Does Eye Colour Affect Your Peripheral Vision?" with fellow Grade 7 student Breagh MacNeil.
The project was one of about 130 projects exhibited during yesterday's Chignecto Regional West Science Fair in Truro.
The girls spent two months on the project and discovered blue-eyed people had the best peripheral vision, while brown-eyed people struggled with it.
"We tested 41 people at school ... blue eyes had better peripheral vision and saw the blue ball better" instead of the green and purple, said MacNeil. "We now need to find out why."
MacEachern loves participating in science fairs because "of the competition and having control of a project and seeing the results."
Central Colchester Junior High School Grade 7 students Keiana Llewellyn and Ella McCurdy worked together on a project about how different liquids affect tooth decay. The duo left teeth in liquid-filled jars for 12 days to see what would happen. They tested water, milk, pickle juice and Coke.
"The Coke is the one that does the most damage," said Llewellyn. "The pickle juice has acid so it resulted in a cavity but it was nothing compared to the Coke, which has sugar, acid and caffeine. The Coke dyed the tooth, gave it a huge cavity and eroded it a bit."
McCurdy said the water didn't produce major changes while the milk resulted in a whiter tooth and a slight growth.
"It grew .2 cm ... that surprised me that it actually grew," said McCurdy, who grew up on a farm and loves science. "It's a natural fit and I just love researching things."
Valley Elementary School's Jayden MacKenzie did an experiment on Pucks in Motion: Warm vs Cold.
"It's about how friction affects warm and frozen pucks. The frozen ones bounce less and slide farther and faster," the 10-year-old said.
"I like doing experiments and there's always something you didn't know before."
Great Village's Steve Karrel co-ordinated the event and was a judge. He was impressed with the entries.
"The projects are high quality," Karrell said. "They put a lot of time and effort into it and they communicate well."
Karrel said science fairs are also excellent to foster self-esteem, organizational, science and math skills as well as co-operation between peers.
INFO BOX
What: Chignecto Regional West Science Fair
Representing: 33 schools. The best projects in local schools advanced to the regional fair.
Number of projects: About 130
Grades involved: Grades 4 to 12
Winners: Will be announced next Tuesday night during a public ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. at CEC.
Next stage: The top five projects will advance to the Canadawide fair in Charlottetown from May 12 to 19. About 500 students will participate.
TRURO - Emma MacEachern got used to people staring at her Tuesday afternoon.
The Grade 7 Truro Junior High School student drew attention as she sat down, put on a hard hat and waited for a colour ball to be attached to a meter stick that was connected to the hat. The meter stick was then rotated from the back of her head towards her eyes. The odd sight was a lesson in colours and peripheral vision.
"It's a very original idea," said MacEachern of her regional science fair project "Can You See It? Does Eye Colour Affect Your Peripheral Vision?" with fellow Grade 7 student Breagh MacNeil.
The project was one of about 130 projects exhibited during yesterday's Chignecto Regional West Science Fair in Truro.
The girls spent two months on the project and discovered blue-eyed people had the best peripheral vision, while brown-eyed people struggled with it.
"We tested 41 people at school ... blue eyes had better peripheral vision and saw the blue ball better" instead of the green and purple, said MacNeil. "We now need to find out why."
MacEachern loves participating in science fairs because "of the competition and having control of a project and seeing the results."
Central Colchester Junior High School Grade 7 students Keiana Llewellyn and Ella McCurdy worked together on a project about how different liquids affect tooth decay. The duo left teeth in liquid-filled jars for 12 days to see what would happen. They tested water, milk, pickle juice and Coke.
"The Coke is the one that does the most damage," said Llewellyn. "The pickle juice has acid so it resulted in a cavity but it was nothing compared to the Coke, which has sugar, acid and caffeine. The Coke dyed the tooth, gave it a huge cavity and eroded it a bit."
McCurdy said the water didn't produce major changes while the milk resulted in a whiter tooth and a slight growth.
"It grew .2 cm ... that surprised me that it actually grew," said McCurdy, who grew up on a farm and loves science. "It's a natural fit and I just love researching things."
Valley Elementary School's Jayden MacKenzie did an experiment on Pucks in Motion: Warm vs Cold.
"It's about how friction affects warm and frozen pucks. The frozen ones bounce less and slide farther and faster," the 10-year-old said.
"I like doing experiments and there's always something you didn't know before."
Great Village's Steve Karrel co-ordinated the event and was a judge. He was impressed with the entries.
"The projects are high quality," Karrell said. "They put a lot of time and effort into it and they communicate well."
Karrel said science fairs are also excellent to foster self-esteem, organizational, science and math skills as well as co-operation between peers.
INFO BOX
What: Chignecto Regional West Science Fair
Representing: 33 schools. The best projects in local schools advanced to the regional fair.
Number of projects: About 130
Grades involved: Grades 4 to 12
Winners: Will be announced next Tuesday night during a public ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. at CEC.
Next stage: The top five projects will advance to the Canadawide fair in Charlottetown from May 12 to 19. About 500 students will participate.
