Meet Riley Avenue science fair winners

Young scientists at Riley Avenue School strutted their stuff at the school’s annual science this month. Teacher Terry Messina, who coordinated this year’s science fair, said that she was very proud of all the students who entered an experiment in the fair this year. They did a great job of using the scientific method and really worked hard on putting together meaningful and interesting research, she said.

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

Here are this year’s first place winners:

Kindergarten
Kindergartner Logan Levesque’s experiment, “Drive Egg-stra Safe”, tested the designs of Lego cars he made to transport eggs. Logan sent the test vehicles flying into a wall to see which would best withstand the impact and protect the egg. (He noted that he was not allowed to drive a real car yet, so he had to use Legos.) 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.)

Grade Two
Second grader Mark Burns tackled a very pertinent question, considering the kind of winter we just experienced on Long Island. His experiment was entitled “Snow Problem” He noted, “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.” 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.

Grade Three
Abigail Maher won the blue ribbon in third grade with her experiment entitled “The Great Bean Race.” Abigail 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. The seeds planted in soil came in third, sand fourth, and the seeds in Orbreez did not grow at all. (The racing green beans on her trifold were a great design touch.)

Grade Four
Liam Levesque, who is in the fourth grade and Logan Levesque’s big brother, called his experiment “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. He noted, “The vehicle with tracks did best in all terrains except grass.”