infonews.co.nz
INDEX
SCIENCE

Environment Canterbury commends student science projects

Thursday 6 September 2012, 4:05PM

By Environment Canterbury

556 views

CANTERBURY

Environment Canterbury recently judged entries at the Canterbury-Westland Schools Science and Technology Fair, looking for projects that had a resource management theme. For those students who produced outstanding exhibits there was the chance to win themselves and their school some money.

In the senior category of the Environment Canterbury award Samantha Tait from Lincoln High and Rowan McCornish from Christchurch Boys' High earned second and third prizes respectively. However, the judges decided that while there was definitely some much applauded work, no project was exceptional enough to warrant awarding a first prize.

Samantha’s project ‘Pitter, Patter, Potable?’ was designed to see if rainwater collected from ordinary home roofs is contaminated to the point it would be unsafe to drink. She tested her samples again the New Zealand drinking water standard but came to no conclusive results, realising she needed more specific testing than what she undertook.

Rowan investigated whether different levels of nitrate affect the rate of algal growth.

The junior category of the Environment Canterbury Award provided stronger competition and the judges decided that first place-getter Lorna Pairman from Cashmere Primary was the definite stand-out entry. Her project, ‘Biodegradable… or not’ compared plastic bags specifically labelled as biodegradable or recyclable to determine just how long it would take for them to decay in soil. The judges all agreed that Lorna had put a lot of forethought and planning into her experiment and were pleased hear she had more research planned.

Second place went to Matthew Hadler from Darfeild High who’s project looked at environmentally friendly edible bowls as an alternative to plastic. Tomo Dorrence of St Joseph’s School gained third place with his study of the Clean Heat rules versus individual health perceptions.

Students in the Timaru area will have their chance to impress the judges on the 12th and 13th of September.Environment Canterbury recently judged entries at the Canterbury-Westland Schools Science and Technology Fair, looking for projects that had a resource management theme. For those students who produced outstanding exhibits there was the chance to win themselves and their school some money.

In the senior category of the Environment Canterbury award Samantha Tait from Lincoln High and Rowan McCornish from Christchurch Boys' High earned second and third prizes respectively. However, the judges decided that while there was definitely some much applauded work, no project was exceptional enough to warrant awarding a first prize.

Samantha’s project ‘Pitter, Patter, Potable?’ was designed to see if rainwater collected from ordinary home roofs is contaminated to the point it would be unsafe to drink. She tested her samples again the New Zealand drinking water standard but came to no conclusive results, realising she needed more specific testing than what she undertook.

Rowan investigated whether different levels of nitrate affect the rate of algal growth.

The junior category of the Environment Canterbury Award provided stronger competition and the judges decided that first place-getter Lorna Pairman from Cashmere Primary was the definite stand-out entry. Her project, ‘Biodegradable… or not’ compared plastic bags specifically labelled as biodegradable or recyclable to determine just how long it would take for them to decay in soil. The judges all agreed that Lorna had put a lot of forethought and planning into her experiment and were pleased hear she had more research planned.

Second place went to Matthew Hadler from Darfeild High who’s project looked at environmentally friendly edible bowls as an alternative to plastic. Tomo Dorrence of St Joseph’s School gained third place with his study of the Clean Heat rules versus individual health perceptions.

Students in the Timaru area will have their chance to impress the judges on the 12th and 13th of September.