Little scientists participate at local fair

Fourteen students from Springfield Public School grades 3-6 participated in the local Science Fair and have earned the opportunity to advance to the Southern Minnesota Regional Elementary Science Fair at Minnesota State University Mankato on April 25. 

The science fair project is the culmination of hard work and persistent investigation. It affords a young scientist the opportunity to share interests with parents, relatives, neighbors, and teachers as well as the chance to be interviewed by the judges who are scientists, engineers, doctors, and others with scientific interests.

The opportunity significantly contributes to the education of students in the thinking process of formulating the project and actually doing the experiments. It may mean the beginning of a life-long fascination with science.

Grade 4

Top winners from the fourth-grade were Brenna Pabst, first, with her project — Puppy Prints (Is a dog’s nose print similar to a human’s thumb print?).

Ethan Louwagie was second  with — Is Water a Good Conductor? (Can water conduct electricity?)

Fara Weber was third with — The Amazing Shell-less Egg (Demonstrates osmosis through an egg membrane).

Other fourth-graders and their projects were:

Kaleb Wenisch — Potato Power (Can potatoes create electricity?), and

Lexie Groebner and Jordyn Plaster — Polished to Perfection (Which nail polish lasts the longest).

Grades 5-6

James Coffland, a fifth-grader, was first with his project — Bouncing Basketballs (Demonstrates how different surfaces effect bounce height of a basketball),

Caleb Hauger, a fifth-grader, was second with— Loop the Loop? (Demonstrates potential energy utilized by roller coasters),

Justin Kettner, a fifth-grader, was third with— What’s Poppin (Which brand of popcorn pops the best).

Other participants were fifth-graders:

Carter Hillesheim and Rylan Geis — Powerful Play-Doh (Does Play-Doh conduct electricity?), and

Josh Moldan — Gum, Yum, Yum! (Testing which flavors of gum last the longest).

Sixth-grade participants also included: 

Makenna Cook — Distracted Driving (What effect to distractions have on driving ability), and

Eva Weber — Water Cracks Me Up (Demonstrates the mechanical weathering effects water has on rocks).