Parent Teacher Magazine Gaston County School March 2014 | Page 6
GCS students display research
skills at Science and Engineering
Fair
Gaston County Schools in partnership with the Schiele Museum
and local businesses conducted the sixth annual Gaston Regional
Science and Engineering Fair on Wednesday, January 22. The Science
and Engineering Fair included 53 invigorating exhibits and projects
created by 76 of Gaston County’s best and brightest elementary,
middle and high school students.
“Collectively, our projects this year are definitely of a much
higher caliber and have attained a serious approach to research and
scientific process,” said GCS science curriculum facilitator Tammy
Mims, who coordinates the Gaston Regional Science and Engineering
Fair. “Our teachers and project mentors do a wonderful job of
supporting our students and providing them with encouragement and
resources.”
The Gaston Regional Science and Engineering Fair is divided
into four categories: physical science, life science, earth science,
and technology and engineering. Students are judged on scientific
method, research, resources, and the types of evidence provided to
support the results.
For the first time, elementary students had an opportunity to
participate in this year’s science fair. Jordan Abernathy, a fourth grade
student at Belmont Central, created a project that identified foods
that are healthy for diabetics to eat. She gathered 20 food and drink
samples, including soft drinks and fresh fruit, and tested each one to
determine how much sugar each contains.
“I have family members who are diabetic,” said Abernathy, who
placed as the overall winner in the elementary category. “However,
my project concluded that some diet foods do have a higher sugar or
glucose level than regular foods and some have lower glucose levels.”
Joseph Buckner, an eighth grade student at Cramerton Middle
School, tested the temperature’s effect on the rebound or bounce of a
golf ball. Buckner, a member of his school’s golf team, said his project
revealed results that will benefit him, his teammates and coach.
“I discovered that my golf ball would not travel as far in colder
temperatures as it would during the spring or summer where
temperatures are warmer,” described Buckner, who had a great first
Emmaus Vander