Matt Hausler had investigated the impact of Warhead candy on tooth decay. He had even gotten a local dentist to give him access to an X-ray machine to conduct his experiment. His findings? Warheads don’t promote tooth decay any faster than other types of candy.
Emily Labbe’s experiment was to try to determine if particular colors of text on a printed page make one read faster or slower. The results? Pages in black text tend to be read more quickly than those printed in other colors. Yellow text makes for the slowest reading, she found.
Matt and Emily are in the 8th-grade honors science class at South Middle School in Arlington Heights. They and their classmates are presenting their science projects to each other in class as part of a tuneup for the big showing next week at the annual science fair.
Teachers said they have been impressed, if not amazed, at the creativity that has gone into the projects.
For Kristine Wilkie, the task was to examine whether cigarette and liquor advertisements are more easily recognized by students in higher as opposed to lower grades. After interviewing 6th, 7th and 8th graders and high school sophomores, she concluded that sophomores identify cigarette and liquor ads most often. But the difference in the percentages between high schoolers and 8th graders who could correctly identify the ads was surprisingly small, she found.
An experiment by Amy Bryniczka found that a test group was unable to tell the difference between milk having a fat content of 1 percent and milk having 2 percent fat.
The fair will feature about 75 projects and will run from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 17, when judges will review the projects, said Caren Kimbarovsky, science department chairwoman at South and coordinator of the event.
The public is invited to attend from 7 to 8 p.m. at the school, 400 S. Highland Ave., she said.
All pupils in the honors class will participate, as well as other 7th and 8th graders who have volunteered to do projects. Judging the entries will be teachers and representatives from various northwest suburban high-tech companies, as well as representatives from the Village of Arlington Heights Engineering Department and Park District.
The best projects will advance to a regional competition sponsored by the Illinois Junior Academy of Science on March 17, Kimbarovksy said. Winners at that level will be eligible to compete in May in the IJAS State Science Fair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Teacher Jay Bingaman said he challenges pupils to analyze their experiments and draw conclusions about their results.
“At this age they have a hard time applying the math they’ve learned to the techniques of their experiments,” he said. “Scientifically, they’re not professionals, but on the other hand when you look at the originality, it’s really neat what they come up with.”
One pupil’s experiment was so sophisticated that it might well raise the eyebrows of a medical school audience, Bingaman said. The youngster analyzed a doctor’s actual research of the treatment of cuts and sores using iodine and sugar mixtures. The student created bacteria molds to demonstrate why the treatments work.
“I think it is amazing at what 8th graders come out with,” Kimbarovsky said. “We give them tools and support and availability, but all these experiments are kid-driven.”
