The Pioneer Park Centennial Center’s main exhibit hall and second-level mezzanine were filled with more than 400 science displays that ran the gamut from agrarian and biodiversity to electricity, astrophysics and the aurora borealis.
The displays were all the brain children of students who participated in the Interior Science Fair this week. Students from public, private and homeschool programs from Fairbanks, North Pole and Nenana to Delta Junction and Healy.
“It represents all the upcoming blooming science enthusiasts who want to explore topics,” said Mackenzie Staiger with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District teaching and learning department.
The science fair is held annually and open to students in elementary and middle school. Some come from individual school science fairs, while others are developed by classes or homeschool students.
Judges decided on first and second place ribbons based on a project’s use of scientifically sound research, the scientific method including hypothesis testing, observations, data and conclusions.
“Some students who participate every year try something different each year,” Staiger said. “They may do a chemistry project for one year or a physics project the next year.”
Students brought in their projects starting Wednesday and judges and volunteers the community interviewed them to learn more about the topics, Staiger said.
“It’s good for students because there’s a lot of inquiry and helps them with their curiosity,” Staiger said. “‘Let’s make that into an experiment’ is a theme and some teachers use that as a building block for class projects.”
Creativity also takes a place in the judging. Some projects are awarded additional community-based awards.
“The judges started at 10 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m.,” Staiger said. “They were volunteering their time to us, talking with the students, speaking with students one-on-one, digging in deeper about projects.”
Some projects took a traditional approach, such as whether potatoes produce power or could serve as a battery.
Another evaluated what causes the aurora, which came with a small light-up demonstration. One project by Nicollete Payne explored the effectiveness of historic and modern face coverings during times of disease or plague.
A project by Weller Elementary teacher Kathleen Hovda’s second-grade class took a place-based approach by focusing on salmon. The project earned a first place blue ribbon.
“We have a tank in our class and biologist Erik Anderson bought salmon eggs for us to raise them,” Hovda said.
Hovda said her class researched the salmon issues in the state while documenting the salmon eggs hatch, documented the salmon in their fry (juvenile) stage and were released in Chena Lake Recreation Area.
More than 20 individual journals were stacked in front of the display, along with artwork and a video.
“The judges came into the room and got to see the fish in the tank,” Hovda said. “The students worked really hard on the project.”
The science fair wraps up today at 1 p.m. at the Pioneer Park Centennial Center with an awards ceremony.
Contact reporter Jack Barnwell at 907-459-7587 or jbarnwell@newsminer.com.