Home Educators Association of Roxboro

HEAR co-president Carlene Harris opened the ceremony with a prayer, followed by introduction of the judges and thanking Cathy Pulliam for an outstanding job of putting the fair together. Right on time, the fair was under way and we were set to find out the results of all the experiments.

Ginny Stewart (retired science teacher) and Randy Durren (PCC Science professor) served as judges and praised all of the entrants. With so many great entries, choosing overall winners was a difficult task. Explaining that mistakes in science often lead to discovery, they based their criteria on experiment versus demonstration and awarded the following:

1^st and 2^nd grade category:

1^st place: Bryce Gunter (2^nd grade) for his experiment in how to keep bananas fresh. In this experiment, Bryce placed bananas in plastic bags in 4 places. He learned that the ones at the window stayed fresher long.

2^nd place: Brooke Pulliam 1^st grade) for her flower test. Brooke placed flowers in water only, 7-Up, water with aspirin and water with flower food. She learned that the flowers in flower food lasted the longest.

3^rd place: Micah Recicar (1^st grade) for his test on water weight in fruit. Micah learned that fruit is lighter after the water has been removed. His before dehydration weight was just under 5 pounds (approx 4 29/32lbor 4 7/8lb). After dehydration, the fruit weighed 1 5/32 lb., a difference of 3 24/32 or 3 and 3/4 lb.

3^rd through 5^th grade category:

1^st place: Nikolay Clayton (3^rd grade) for his experiment on Sir Isaac Newton's Color Wheel. Nikolay discovered when colors are spinning round, we do not see the colors. Our brain sends a message of white to our eyes.

2^nd place: Eric Hunter (3^rd grade) for his “Towers, Towers and More Towers. Eric learned that short and wide towers are more stable than tall and thin.

3^rd place: Brianna Pulliam (4^th grade) for her experiment showing the effect of germs and hand washing.

6^th through 8^th grade:

1^st place: Nicole Pulliam (8^th grade) for her experiment titled “Are your eyes playing tricks on you?” Nicole’s experiment proved that different people see after images for various lengths of time.

2^nd place: Anna Hunter (6^th grade) for her experiment showing the effects of bridge design and weight bearing capacity.

3^rd place: Joshua Welch (7^th grade) for his experiment in “rocks that we can eat”, growing sugar crystals. Joshua started growing the sugar crystals on Dec. 1, 08 and they became quite large. He learned how to make his own rock candy and about the chemical make-up of sugar.

Additional entries were:

Cassie Foltz (2^nd grade) who showed how to extract DNA from strawberries

Caleb Long (2^nd grade) with a working volcano model

Matthew Welch (5^th grade) made his own electromagnet and learned about the magnetic field around the earth.

Matthew Pulliam (4^th grade) with Are you left or right sided? Matthew learned that most of the people he tested are right sided, or left-brain dominant.

The entire HEAR group is proud of our student’s accomplishments and offer sincere congratulations to all of the entrants.

Reprinted courtesy of the Courier Times.