Aptos Life March 2013 by Weeklys

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Aptos Life - March 2013 - A5

Valencia students shine at annual science fair By ROSEANN HERNANDEZ Of Aptos Life

APTOS — Valencia Elementary held its annual science fair last month in the school’s cafeteria, where students proudly displayed their projects to the delight of parents and friends. A total of 150 students participated in the fair, which is part of the school’s required curriculum for fifth and sixth grade students. A group of scientist volunteers from the University of California, Santa Cruz helped judge the competition, with five projects from each grade level selected to compete at the countywide science fair being held at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds on March 9. Last year one of Valencia Elementary’s sixth graders made it past the county competition and went on to compete at the state science fair. It’s the standard science fair approach: Students were required to come up with their own question, and through experimentation they were to generate data, which they then analyzed and formed a conclusion. Fifth-grade student Sophie Pintner wanted to know which type of sandwich would go moldy the fastest in her experiment. Comparing different types of the popular lunchtime meal, Pintner found that cheese went moldy the fastest and peanut butter took the longest to break down. Sixth-grade scientist Addie Breen constructed a trebuchet — with help from her father — to find out which type of fruit or vegetable travels the farthest when flung from the contraption. Breen found that apples went the longest and illustrated her results with colorful graphs and charts. Taking his inspiration from the ocean, sixth-grader Sam Bach built a solar-pow-

ered desalination unit from two plastic containers, straws and plastic cups to see how saltwater could be turned into drinkable water and how much water the device could produce. Bach also wanted to test whether a colored slip of paper at the bottom of one part of the device would lead to more water being produced. Bach admitted that the data did not completely support his hypothesis that the colored bottom would lead to more water being produced – and during the course of his experiment gaps in the components led to loss of water vapor and condensation, impacting Sixth-grader Sam Bach shows his project – a solar powered desalination unit constructed from two plastic results. However, the young sci- shoeboxes, funnels and plastic cups. Photo by Roseann Hernandez/Aptos Life entist, who also researched desalination units in places such as Saudi Arabia as part of his project, concluded he was able to produce enough water to show the device would work in converting saltwater into drinking water — if it was done on a larger scale and all Loyalty Discount components were sealed tightly. valid for 90 days Science teacher Cathy Guiley coupon must be present said doing the science experiments helps some restrictions apply students understand the process of method• Free pick up and delivery ically finding answers to questions, which APTOS can be applied to all subjects, but Guiley • The only Botanical 415 Trout Gulch Rd. • 831-688-5011 has particular ambitions for her students. Green Cleaner CAPITOLA “I would love to see more scien(in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties). 809 Bay Ave. • 831-479-0650 tists come out of here,” she said. • Endex-99 exclusive

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