Zoe Gordon, 12, (left) and Brynne Barrett, 13, Grade 8 classmates from St. Michael Catholic School in Belleville, present a science project called Diaper Duel at the Quinte Regional Science and Technology Fair at Loyalist College last weekend. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
By Matthew Morgan [1]
BELLEVILLE – Students from elementary and secondary schools throughout the Quinte area were at Loyalist College on Saturday showcasing their science and technology projects.
The 58th Quinte Regional Science and Technology Fair [2]was an opportunity for the students to compete against each other and get selected to take part in other competitions.
Zoe Gordon, a Grade 8 student at St. Michael Catholic School [3] in Belleville, and her classmate Brynne Barrett were two of the contestants. They named their project Diaper Duel, and its goal was to find out which disposable-diaper brand is the most durable.
Gordon said she and Barrett got the idea for the project while taking part in a chemistry program for students who excel in science. In one experiment, they had to dissect a diaper to determine the materials used.
“We kind of wanted to take it a step further and do a competition to see which was the better diaper,” she said.
She likes science and feels competing in the science fair gives her the chance to enjoy it that much more, Gordon said: “I just love the atmosphere and getting together to find out what everyone has learned. Science is all around us, and science is what makes us and everything around us,”
Barrett said, “For me, the best part of science is obviously the experimenting, because you get to do all the hands-on kind of stuff.”
The team were awarded first place in the category for Grade 8 students.
Dante Duffus, 12, a student at Albert College, did a project on whether engine oil is a pollutant. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
Dante Duffus, 12, an Albert College student, did a project called The Effects of Engine Oil as a Pollutant.
“I used lawn-mower engine oil, and that certain type of engine oil doesn’t affect the plant unless it’s used in a lawn mower,” he said. When it’s used for its intended purpose, “it would be … harmful to plants and then would in fact be a pollutant.”
He was inspired to pick this topic because “I wanted to learn just a little bit more about what’s happening in our community and around the world … That’s why I wanted to learn about what effects come from engine oil as a pollutant,” he said.
Emilie Leneveu, an outreach co-ordinator with Let’s Talk Science at Loyalist College, [4] was at the science fair with displays urging students to get involved in science. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
Emilie Leneveu, an outreach co-ordinator for the Let’s Talk Science program at Loyalist College who was at the science fair, said the turnout was a success.
“We did the same thing last year with Let’s Talk Science and the bioscience (program) at Loyalist College (and) we had 200 to 300 people. And I think it’s safe to say that (on Saturday) we hit that mark and we’re halfway through the day,” she said.
Kids today don’t think of subjects such as chemistry to be just about science – it’s more about what they do every day, and that makes it easier and more enjoyable for them, Leveneu said.
“Science isn’t just being in a lab and just doing math. It’s also being really creative and really logical,” she said.
Click here [5] to find out more about Quinte Regional Science and Technology Fair and to see a list of all of the winners.