Inquisitive students explore areas of science
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON - Students at the St. Aloysius School, Bennetts Mills Road, recently showed their skills in science. At the school's fifth annual science fair held in February, students explored topics ranging from biology to chemistry.

"The science fair gives students the opportunity to study something that interests them, as well as [giving them the opportunity to practice using] the scientific method," Principal Elizabeth O'Connor said.

"A packet went home at the end of November. The students periodically had some assignments to turn in to school science coordinator Jennifer Furlong, who was in charge of the science fair. The overall results were many great experiments, lots of learning and hopefully some fun," O'Connor said.

The principal said the pupils presented their finished projects and became more knowledgeable about science.

The science fair judges were science teachers from St. Rose High School, Belmar, Monsignor Donovan High School, Toms River, and Red Bank Catholic High School, Red Bank, said school public relations coordinator Olive Taylor.

Students Jessica Cruz and Alaina Young were a winning team for their project "Optical Illusions, Do Males and Females Perceive them Differently?" Jessica and Alaina found several optical illusions online. They printed them out and posted them on construction paper. They then asked males and females what they saw. The students found that while the males perceived one image, the females saw a different image.

They also completed the Stroop test, which involves people saying the color of a word they have been asked to look at and not what the word actually says. The students timed their results and found that, on average, females completed the Stroop test faster than males.

Student Matthew Ferri had a winning project called "What Packaging Material Provides the Best Protection?" He bought six glass goblets and wrapped them in various materials including paper, bubble wrap, plastic foam and other materials, to protect them. He dropped each glass from a ladder and unwrapped the packages to see how well the glasses were protected. He found that the plastic foam worked the best.

Alexa Fontana and Valerie Gambino teamed up to work on their science fair project called "Insulation." Valerie and Alexa were interested in finding out which jar would stay the warmest. They used three jars and wrapped one jar in wool and one jar in aluminum foil. The third jar was left unwrapped.

They placed a thermometer in the warm water in the jar and recorded the temperature over a period of time. The students found that the bottle that was covered in wool was the one that had the best insulation.

Bryan Johnston and Vincent Russo combined science and music to create "What Effect Does Music Have on Plant Growth?"

Working together, Vincent and Bryan grew three crocus bulbs. They placed each bulb in darkness for three hours over 15 days. Then they exposed the bulbs to partial sunlight for three hours over the next 15 days.

One bulb was exposed to classical music, the second bulb was exposed to rap/rock music and the final bulb was exposed only to silence.

The students found that the bulb that was exposed to classical music grew the best in roots and sprouts, while the plant that was exposed to silence had the best root base.

Andrew Mac also had a winning project, which he called "Which Public Place has the Most Germs?"

Andrew compared the bacterial growth in different public locations. He used the St. Aloysius gym, a door handle at a local restaurant and a church pew. He collected data by noting the number of people that visited the three locations during a seven-day period.

Andrew made a swab culture on an agar plate at each location. He then watched colonies of bacteria grow.

"You may be surprised to learn that a church pew is exposed to the most germs," he said.

The students received a certificate of achievement for their winning projects.