Middle School Science Fair Highlights Students’ Research Interests

The ponderings of young scientists at George Fischer Middle School were highlighted at the annual science fair over the weekend. Tables lined the gymnasium space as students presented scientific wonders, interesting experiments, and amazing findings on diverse topics including soil erosion, the power of light, the weathering of limestone, mold growth and others. 

More than 60 projects were submitted for this year’s science fair by students in grades 5-8 in the categories of Biology, Earth and Space, Physical Science, Technology and Mathematics. 

Sixth-grade students Lucas Hauptner and Jack Sutherland entered their project, an infinity mirror, in the Technology category. An infinity mirror uses parallel mirrored surfaces to create the illusion of an endless space through reflection. Their project earned first-place honors. 

During their demonstration for the judges, Hauptner and Sutherland pointed out the importance of constructing the mirror perfectly to showcase the wonder of the illusion.  

“For the judging, we wanted to show that if the mirror and the plexiglass are not perfectly parallel the illusion won’t work,” said Hauptner. 

The idea for their project was born out of some internet research as well as Hauptner’s personal experience with an infinity mirror on a family vacation.  

“I saw an infinity mirror, and everyone kept stopping to look at it. So, I thought it would be a good idea for us to try to create one,” he said. “We researched it, and, once we saw it, we were set.” 

Fifth-grade students Kayla Ramos, Emily Lockhart and Alissa Castrovinci researched and compared the eyes of dogs, cats and humans for their project, which earned third-place recognition in the Biology category. Their pets at home helped serve as inspiration for their project. 

“We were going through ideas, and one was about how eyeglass lenses are made, and I immediately thought of cat eyes,” said Ramos. “I was going to use my pets for the experiment, but I never got a chance to. But I did love them a little more during the process.”  

Ramos has both dogs and cats at home but focused on the dog eye research portion for the group. 

“I just thought the whole topic sounded interesting,” said Castrovinci, who focused on the human eye research.  

The group created a display box that used a mirror and a flashlight to show how light reflects on the different eyes. 

Sixth-grade student Emelia Delamere submitted a project that compared the effects of playing music on plants in her house. 

“I play music a lot, and I noticed that my plants would grow more when I kept them in the room that I play my flute in,” said Delamere. 

For her experiment, she compared plants exposed to her music to one kept in another room where music was not played. All plants had the same amount of water, sunlight and other nutrients. The plants that were exposed to the music thrived while the one that was not exposed eventually died. 

Fifth-grade student William Suppa entered a research project on the science of avalanches. He earned first place in the Earth and Space category for his grade. 

“It was the first thing that came to my mind, because avalanches are such an underrated topic, and I wanted to study something unique,” said Suppa. He studied the triggers and what causes avalanches and the different layers of snow. 

“The thick, packed snow is made of flour; the weak loose layer is made of sea salt; and the strong layer is made of kinetic sand,” he said while demonstrating the movement of the various layers by banging a kitchen mallet against his display.  

Student submissions were reviewed by a panel of volunteer guest judges, including students in the Carmel High School Science Research Program and teachers. First, second and third place awards were presented in each category in each grade, with the three top scores overall across the grades earning best-in-show awards and trophies. 

All first-place category winners in the George Fischer Middle School fair will have the opportunity to enter the Tri-County Science & Technology Fair which brings together K-12 students from Putnam, Westchester and Rockland counties to display their science, math and technology projects. 

“The young scientists in this room learned something very valuable while they were working on their projects, and they were in this to improve their knowledge in some area of science,” said Principal John Piscitella during the award ceremony. “I think all of you did that, and we recognize you for that effort, and that should really feel good. You had a passion for something, you explored that passion and you improved and gained knowledge in a field of science.”