Bradfield Learners Tackle Tricky Questions During School Science Fair

Ever wondered which type of glue to use on rubber, or whether to splurge on expensive hairspray for windy days? Should you invest in red flashcards instead of white to help you remember tricky words? 

The students at Bradfield Elementary have asked those questions, too. About 100 kindergarteners through fourth graders shared their answers during the school’s science fair on Feb. 2. Community volunteers judged the projects, and students enjoyed popsicles while the winners were revealed during afternoon assemblies.

Try using Gorilla Glue if you want your rubber to stay stuck, according to first-grader Jeremiah Brown, whose project took second place in his grade. As for the hairspray, save your money: third-grade winner Piper Henderson found that a bigger price tag won’t lead to a better result.

Henderson, who was inspired by a trip to Mattel, found by testing hairspray on Barbie dolls that the most expensive product performed the worst. She plans to do another science fair project next year.

“The science fair is one of my favorite parts of the year,” she said.

Avar Sidhu took home the top prize for fourth grade for his project on how color impacts memory. His idea came from observations of the McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A symbols, which he said he remembers most of the time. 

Those strong memories could be due to their red logo backgrounds, according to Sidhu’s results. He found that his research subjects, his dad and brother, remembered words printed on red paper better than those on white, blue, or green.

 “After it turned out to be red, I was shocked,” Sidhu said. “I wasn’t thinking it would be red.”

According to Sidhu, “nobody remembered the white.”

Third-grader Wright Patman, whose project won third place in his grade, worked for a week to perfect his four-step water filter using cups, straws, rocks, charcoal, sand, and cotton. He explained that he chose to create a filter after watching a video about bringing clean water to Africa.

“I thought, can I make my own way to make clean water?” Patman said. “So, I made the filter to help people in Africa so they can have clean water.”

Science teacher Jennifer Gleaton said that she appreciated that Bradfield’s “voracious learners” had been able to present their projects to their peers and talk with the community judges.

“Science doesn’t have to be scary. Science can be fun,” she said. “It really is a world of wonder. It all starts with a question. If you have a question about anything, go figure it out.”