Special to the Times
On Thursday and Friday, Feb. 20 and 21, Park Street School (PSS) Elementary School students (Kindergarten-Grade 6) presented engaging Science topics to parents, faculty and staff, peers and other PSS students during our two-day, dynamic 2025 Science Fair exhibition.
On Thursday morning, Feb. 20, from 8:30-9:30 a.m., Park Street School (PSS) students in Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 4 shared their Science Fair group projects with parents and classmates.
The school’s budding second-grade entomologists displayed handcrafted 3-D larger-than-life models of unusual insects, sharing interesting facts and discoveries with parents and classmates. PSS Parents took Expeditions through Kindergarten classrooms where walls and ceilings were transformed into Rainforests. Kindergarten field experts answered questions and shared their knowledge about particular animals that share the Rainforest habitat. First-grade astronauts were ready to launch into outer space, sharing their galactic knowledge and discoveries about particular planets, NASA, and the solar system. Meanwhile, in a collaborative Art, Science, and Homeroom effort, third-graders took their parents under the sea to share their expertise on sea turtles, showcasing five different sea turtle species. Finally, Grade 4 students presented work on product testing done in teams, researching and testing consumer household items such as lip balms, hand warmers, plastic wrap, and band-aids (to name a few).
On Friday morning, Feb. 21, Grades 5-6 students displayed individual science experiments and research papers, engaging parents and visitors with riveting answers and sharing their discoveries to questions. The topics investigated by Grade 5 and 6 students included this sampling of questions: “Will different types of flour affect the density of a muffin?” with the hypothesis that the greater amount of protein in the flour would make a denser muffin; “What melts ice the quickest?” with the hypothesis that sea salt would melt ice the fastest because it would lower the freezing point of water more than other substances; “Does the amount of fat impact the amount cheese stretches?” with the hypothesis that the more fat in the cheese, the more it would stretch; “Does being on a cell phone call affect a person’s reaction time while driving?” with a hypothesis that a participant in a cell phone conversation would have slower than normal reaction time; “Will ski waxes that are not paraffin-based work as effectively as paraffin ski wax?” with the hypothesis that ski wax made with beeswax is as effective as paraffin wax at reducing friction between ski and snow; and finally, “Does age affect a person’s ability to recognize AI-generated photos?” with the hypothesis that the older a person is, the more their ability to recognize AI-generated photos decreases.
Announcement and Presentation of Grade 5 and 6 Winners:
On Friday afternoon, Feb. 21 at 1:30 p.m., the names of the winners in Grades 5 and 6 were announced. These middle school students’ projects were assessed by judges external to the school, before Friday. The judges’ scores were tallied to produce five awards, First Place through Fifth Place. The winners presented their five projects on stage to parents and visitors. Interspersed between each of the winning presentations were innovative live advertising “commercials,” written, designed, and produced by fourth-grade students based on their product testing. The awards were presented to the following students: First Place: Grade 5B Lydia Schillace; Second Place: Grade 6A Samuel Douthit; Third Place: Grade 6A Gopal Mamdyal; Fourth Place: Grade 6A Sophia Geiman; and Fifth Place: Grade 5A Christopher Exilhomme. Congratulations to ALL of the PSS scientists!