Brown Avenue's Budding Scientists

I had the honor of attending Brown Avenue School's annual Science Fair on Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Budding scientists in Mrs. Deborah Danielewicz's and Mrs. Cheryl Pezzullo-Hardiman's fifth grade classes excitedly presented their science projects to family members in the school cafeteria. The students sat in front of their projects and made presentations as visitors came by.

Farah Ghanam's project was entitled "What The Nose Knows." She wanted to find out whether or not age has an affect on a person's sense of smell. Farah said, "I found out that younger people have a stronger sense of smell than older people." 

Some of the other projects that were presented were: "How Crystals Are Formed?" by Emily Watson; Katrina Hohlmaier conducted her experiment to find out "What Brand of Gum Lasts The Longest?" and Julia Connell's experiment was entitled "Are You For Real: Artificial vs. Natural." Congratulations to all fifth graders who participated in the fair! Your  projects were very well done and quite sophisticated!   

The idea of holding a Science Fair for the fifth grade students came to Mrs. Danielewicz seven years ago. She told me: "I felt as though it was important they know how to do a science fair project [in preparation for middle school]." Once students move on to Ferri Middle School, most will be required to participate in a science fair. Although there wasn't any official science fair judging at Brown Avenue, the students did receive a grade for their project from their classroom teacher. At the middle school and high school level, though, students are required to follow strict criteria and are judged by a team of faculty members. The students are granted ribbons and those who win a first place ribbon are able to go on the State Science and Engineering Fair which is held annually at CCRI in Warwick. 

 I applaud Brown Avenue for providing its students with this opportunity to hone their scientific skills before heading on to middle school! For more information about the Rhode Island State Science and Engineering Fair, you can visit this site:http://risef.org/fair.html