Byline: STACI MATLOCK, photo by Staci Matlock
Pecos Section
Volcanoes, tie-dye and carpenter caps
Volcanoes, electric nodes in potatoes, rubber-band-powered airplanes and solar-system models were just a few of the projects Pecos Middle School students put together for last week's science fair.
It was the first such fair in many years, according to Principal Dorothy Sanchez. She made it a mandatory part of the middle-school science classes.
``The kids complained, but when it was over they said they wanted to do it again next year,'' Sanchez said.
Anthony Cde Baca's purple robot was a hit with other kids at the science fair. CdeBaca, a sixth-grader, asked an uncle who works with the Sandia National Laboratory robotics program to send him information for the project. The robot was built out of a 200-piece kit. ``I want to do robotics when I grow up,'' Anthony said.
Each project had to list a theory or problem, the steps students took to conduct experiments, their supplies and the results.
Seventh-grader Patrick Gallaher conducted an experiment to find out whether color affects memory. Using six relatives and friends as his test subjects, he had them look at letters and numbers on papers of different colors. His findings: dump white paper. Red paper helped people remember better than any color. ``Madison Avenue advertisers would give anything to know which color helps people remember best,'' said Jude Messer, a science-fair judge. Gallaher won second place in the seventh-grade category for his efforts.
His classmates Sofia Chavez and Kristina Quintana won first place for their project, which explored natural dyes. They used onion, turmeric, chili powder, tea and avocado skins to dye T-shirts. The team used the Internet to research natural dyes and even used paper with a tie-dyed look to write up their results.
Alysha Baca, a sixth-grader, took first place in her category for her model of a solar home. She placed a thermometer inside the house to determine the rise in temperature at night and in the day.
Fellow sixth-graders Robert Minatrea and Jarrod Blea placed second in the category and took home Best of Show honors.
Brian Baugus and Michael Kaczor, both sixth-graders, said their rubber-band-powered, balsa-wood airplane only flew five feet the first time they sent it up. Modeled after a Cessna, the plane had several test flights for the team to write about wing angle and lift.
Seventh-graders Justin Blea and Justin Martinez deduced that a carpenter spends 15 minutes a day looking for a pencil. So they invented an ingenious way to help carpenters, teachers and other pencil-users keep track of the instrument -- the Pencil Caddie. Blea and Martinez outfitted a cap with six soft-cloth pockets The wearer can store a pencil, ruler and other tools right in the cap.
Other winners of the Pecos Middle School science fair inlcuded:
Eighth-graders: 1st place, Dominique Flores; second place, Celina Garcia; third place, Joseph Flores; fourth place, Josephine Vega and Esperanza Lucero; fifth place, Lee Ortiz and Jody Paul Herrera.
Seventh-graders: first place, Sofia Chavez and Kristina Quintana; second place, Patrick Gallaher; third place, Mr. Herrer's class; fourth place, Sean Ong; fifth place, Victoria Ortiz and Elisha DeVargas.
Sixth-graders: first place, Alysha Baca; second place, Robert Minatrea and Jarrod Blea; third place, George White; fourth place, Carmelita Roybal; fifth place, Dominic Lucero.
CAPTION(S):
1. Anthony Cde Baca's purple robot was a hit with the other science fair participants at Pecos Middle School. 'I want to do robotics when I grow up,' he said. More than 200 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders participated in the Feb. 15 fair.
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