St Margaret’s McTernan School

Sixth Grade Science Fair

 WATERBURY — St Margaret’s McTernan sixth grade students participated in a Science Fair recently.

“The theme of the science fair this year was a scientific comparison of A and B effects, in which the student undertakes an experiment of his or her own choice, hypothesizes possible outcomes, then measures actual outcomes,” noted Middle School Science Teacher Stephen Jette. “Students select a hypothesis that they wouldn’t be expected to know without research and study, or wouldn’t be expected to be able to guess correctly,” Mr Jette continued.

The entire sixth grade chose 36 different projects, undertook individual research from a variety of sources, including online research, then assembled their findings in presentation format. Presentations were made individually to classmates and parents, who were given the opportunity to ask questions.

“The parents were eager spectators and were impressed by the science of the results, which were often counterintuitive. It was a very successful learning exercise, because this format benefits the one who presents the findings, as well as those students who are exposed to the methodology and results. As for me, I am always learning from my students,” Mr Jette concluded.

 Newtown resident Judd Baggett’s science project involved the rate at which various brands of crayons would melt when placed on a cookie sheet, at a constant oven temperature setting. His testing included the name brand Crayola, as well as several private label or store brands of crayons. As a subset of measurement, he took note of which colors of crayons were most quickly susceptible to melting at the same oven temperature. His research disclosed that the name brand, Crayola crayons, were the last to melt. He also noted that crayons of red color lasted longest.

St Margaret’s McTernan is a not-for-profit, not religious affiliated college preparatory day school for boys and girls in pre-K through twelfthgrade of high school, sited on a 47-acre campus along Chase Parkway in Waterbury.