Will compete at state level

ROME TOWNSHIP — Following high scores for their projects at the district science fair last month, three fifth graders from Fairland West Elementary are headed to Columbus to compete in the state science fair next month.

Noah Weinsweig, Steeler Leep and Raegan Friedley, all fifth graders from Proctorville, won at their Feb. 5 school fair and were part of a group of nine students from the elementary to compete at the district fair in Portsmouth on March 19, Leroy Baise, who teaches science at the school, said.

Projects at the fair were scored on a scale of 0-40, and those who earned higher than 36 became eligible to compete in Columbus, he said.

Friedley’s project was “Dancing with the Senses,” which was inspired by a favorite past time of hers.

“I dance, and it’s what I wanted to do,” she said.

She wanted to find out which senses, such as seeing or hearing most affected balance.

Following her study, she found that visual information had the most impact, matching her hypothesis.

Leep’s project, “Memory and Motion,” looked into whether exercise helped with memory.

He had two groups of participants look at a tray containing 20 items for one minute, then had them write down everything they remembered seeing.

Next, he had one group play 3-on-3 basketball, and one group play the video game Minecraft, before having them look at a second tray and repeat the recall process.

He said he expected, from experience, for those engaging in exercise to have better results.

“I like to exercise a lot,” he said. “I live on a big hill and like to run up it. And I remember a lot after playing basketball.”

After tabulating the results, Leep said his hypothesis was proven correct.

Weinsweig’s project, “The Big Chill,” tested what method cooled a can of soda the fastest.

“My family likes to drink a lot of pop,” he said. “And when we’re outside on a hot day, we come in and there are no cold cans.”

He tested three methods — an electric freezer, a cooler filled with ice and a cooler filled with ice, salt and water.

Weinsweig said he thought the ice alone would cool the drink the fastest, but found out that the ice, salt and water mixture worked best.

The students said they were excited to make the trip to the state fair, especially Weinsweig.

“I’ve never been to Columbus before,” he said.

Though he did mention that he’ll have to compete against someone familiar.

“My older sister also made the state fair,” he said.

The fair, organized by the Ohio Academy of Science, is set for May 14 in Columbus, and will draw more than 1,000 student winners to take part.