- January 18, 2025
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Science fairs have been an instrumental tool of education for nearly 100 years, with some sources citing them beginning in the 1930s, and the National Science Fair debuting in 1950.
The core structures of the science fair — young students using the scientific method to reach a conclusion — remain fundamental today, but the topics and processes for completing them have evolved.
Evidence of that was on full display at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy Jan. 13 as students from fifth grade through high school presented their findings after research and testing.
"It's nice to see young people interested in science," said Richard Currie, science fair judge. "I did this last year, and what I liked was how some of them presented what they did. I didn't have to ask a lot of questions."
Some of the classic science fair experiments were present.
Testing the aerodynamics of paper airplanes, finding different effects on plant growth, battery tests, bottle rocket propulsion and heart rate monitoring were a few of the popular choices.
Other projects were aimed at investigating the science of the modern world.
Wrenn Pevzner, who placed second among eighth graders, decided to test whether people can distinguish between artificial intelligence and real images.
“Most of them got the AI wrong, which proves the point that the intelligence is getting smarter as we talk right now,” said Pevzner, who gathered 10 people and asked them whether an image was created with artificial intelligence or not. “I find that intriguing.”
Emile Roy read that people in skyscrapers often have poor Wi-Fi connections and decided to test why that might be.
Roy gathered several different six-foot by six-foot materials from Home Depot, separated his cell phone from his Wi-Fi router, and found that he had essentially no signal when metal was in the way, but other materials such as wood and plastic, had no effect on the signal strength.
Cadence Clay took her modern-day science experiment a step further. She rented a radio frequency meter and measured which cell phone apps emitted the highest levels of radiation.
She found that the FaceTime app emitted the most frequency, while gaming apps emitted the least.
“I found that maybe cancer researchers can further examine the connection between radiation and cancer cells,” said Clay, who placed second among high school participants. “They could also educate the public, because a lot of us don’t realize it until you do an experiment like this.”
Other science fair participants studied the science of sports to discover more about their passions.
Ellie Turner measured the best pounds per square inch to inflate a volleyball while Illia Korotkov did the same for a soccer ball.
Kaiden Cantrell gathered 10 people to find the best angle to shoot a basketball. Grace Carpinello used a golf simulator and different golf balls to determine what makes a golf ball travel farther.
Amelia Babiak found that orange juice has more electrolytes than sports drinks, which was the opposite of her hypothesis.
“Science is bringing us into the future,” said Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy chemistry teacher Alexandra Wilcoxson, who helped judge the science fair. “Things are always changing, so I think making kids excited about science is important. And also, to teach them how to ask questions and how to properly research those questions.
“In this day and age when you can just Google things, and you don’t necessarily fact check them, it’s important that these kids are thinking about what’s going on in our world and then finding out what is the answer and not just what TikTok told them yesterday.”
