BCS Advantage Magazine Special Edition #9 | Page 14

A Fair Bit of Science
at Enka Middle
Enka Middle School eighth-
grader Hailey Brown checks
on a plant that is part of her
science fair project.
By Tim Reaves, Communications Department
Every year in January, Enka Middle
School students break out tri-
fold poster boards for the annual
eighth-grade science fair.
On Jan. 5, 2018, the school’s
media center was packed with
projects ranging from wind
turbines to memory tools to the
physics of rollercoasters. Local
winners went to the regional
competition at Western Carolina
University in February.
“It’s amazing what kids can do
when they think outside the box,”
said eighth-grade science teacher
Sean Dare, who oversaw judging
for the science fair. “Students get
to use the Scientific Method and
Project Design process to explore
a topic that interests them and
learn more about it.”
blades is more weight.”
Amaya Hayes and Hailey Brown
wanted to figure out how to
recycle pencil shavings from their
classrooms, so they added them
to potting soil to test whether
they could grow cucumber plants.
It turned out the pots with pencil
An Enka Middle School eighth-grader makes shavings saw better growth than
a presentation to one of the judges.
plain soil.
“We think it’s because there’s a
lot of carbon in pencil shavings,
and plants need carbon,” Hayes
said.
Three Enka Middle School eighth-graders
talk about their project.
Students Mike Berrett and Bryce Ingle tested
different wind turbine designs and were surprised
to learn that three blades work better than six.
“We thought that the six-blade would produce
more volts, but our hypothesis was wrong,” Ingle
said. “The three-blade produced more voltage.”
“It’s probably because the three-blade doesn’t
take as long to pick up speed,” Berrett said. “More
12
These
students
and
their
discoveries show the value