Noel Students Complete Science Fair Projects

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Mariana Salas (left) and Moosay Raysoe work on their board for the Noel science fair. Their project was on the growth of bacteria on different surfaces.
RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Mariana Salas (left) and Moosay Raysoe work on their board for the Noel science fair. Their project was on the growth of bacteria on different surfaces.

Noel Elementary and Junior High School had its annual science fair on April 12. Some students shared their projects in advance of the event.

Eighth-graders Mariana Salas and Moosay Raysoe studied the growth of bacteria on different surfaces.

Raysoe said they took a cotton swab and swabbed different surfaces, such as a sink, chairs, a hand, a toilet handle and the inside of someone's mouth. Then they swabbed them on a Petri dish, closed and taped the lid, put the dishes under a warm light and waited a few days for bacteria to grow.

"We found out the sink had the most bacteria," Raysoe said.

Their science teacher, Mr. Boettler, gave them the instructions for how to do their experiment, they said.

"We were surprised. And we're proud," Raysoe said.

Eighth-graders S.J. Joseph, Amy Montoya and Julis Quetzecua did a project about how music affects the memory.

Montoya said they set out to determine which genre of music would help them concentrate more.

The students said they played a matching game while listening to different genres of music and tried to see how many puzzles they could complete.

"We found that rock music helped us way more than any other genre," said Montoya.

Both groups presented their findings on boards at the science fair.

Noel principal Samantha Buckridge said, "We just want students to engage in hands-on science projects where they can, from start to finish, go through the science inquiry process and then celebrate their work with the rest of the community."

General News on 04/19/2018