Riley Avenue Elementary School Hosts Annual Science Fair

Riley Avenue Elementary School in Riverhead recently hosted a their annual science fair.

Teacher Terry Messina, who coordinated this year’s science fair, stated that she was very proud of all the young scientists who entered an experiment in the fair this year

She also noted that they did a great job of using the scientific method and really worked hard on putting together meaningful and interesting research.

The students in each grade level who placed first will now enter their experiments in the Brookhaven National Labs’ Annual Science Fair.

The winners included:

• First Place in Kindergarten: Logan Levesque, whose experiment, “Drive Egg-stra Safe”, tested the designs of Lego cars he made to transport eggs. He sent the test vehicles flying into a wall to see which would best withstand the impact and protect the egg. The car he called the Rammer Jammer, which had an extended front end, protected the egg best. (Note: Logan was ill on the day the photos were taken.)

• First Place in Second Grade: Mark Burns who tackled a very pertinent question, considering the kind of winter we just experienced on Long Island. His experiment was entitled “Snow Problem”. “Every winter we use salt and chemicals to melt ice and snow. Salt and chemicals are not good for people’s’ pets, plants, cars and water,” he said. So, Mark conjectured there may be other choices that would do the job as effectively with fewer side effects. His alternatives included beet juice, pickle brine and alfalfa. Pickle brine and alfalfa seemed like the best possible alternatives.

• First Place in Third Grade: Abigail Maher who won the blue ribbon in third grade with her experiment entitled “The Great Bean Race”. She wanted to see which green bean seeds would germinate the fastest. She placed the bean seeds in soil, Orbeez (water beads also used in children’s spa toys), pebbles, cotton balls and sand. Abigail hypothesized that the seeds planted in the soil would grow the fastest; however, the first to germinate was the one in pebbles, followed by the seeds planted in cotton balls.

• First Place in Fourth Grade: Liam Levesque, with his experiment called “Tracks For Traction”. He designed two battery powered Lego vehicles to see which, based on the choice of wheels, would travel over rough terrain best--the one with wheels or the the tank-like vehicle with tracks. “The vehicle with tracks did best in all terrains except grass,” he said.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Photo courtesy of Riverhead Central School District

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