WARNER ROBINS -- Colorfully decorated three-panel display boards lined dozens of tables inside the Century of Flight Hangar at the Museum of Aviation.
Some boards stood behind gadgets and three-ring binders as students set up their projects just so Tuesday in preparation for the Regional Science and Engineering Fair.
More than 700 students from Houston and Peach counties will compete this week in the annual event, which will be open to the public Friday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Students worked for weeks and months on projects ranging from the impact of fluoride on humans to studying how rust affects objects’ magnetism.
“We know students have to be creative thinkers, and this is what we truly believe science fair projects help students do,” said Ann Williams-Brown, fair director and science coordinator for Houston County schools.
The projects, she said, help students explore a problem and find potential solutions that could be used to change the world.
Many students sought answers for personal issues they faced in everyday life.
Chase Langston, a seventh grader at Mossy Creek Middle School, often complained about being weighed down and constricted by his taekwondo sparring gear, said his mother, Kim Langston. So the student tested wearing a non-Newtonian gel -- which means it doesn’t behave the way fluids are expected to -- for protection while allowing more free movement.
“(The gel) does actually give you more protection,” Langston said of his findings.
A few tables away, Breaunna Wright tried out a prosthetic leg she built using PVC pipe.
After an ankle injury last year, the Feagin Mill Middle School eighth-grader found it difficult to carry her books while using crutches, thus she found the inspiration for her project.
“This is better (than the crutches),” she said demonstrating the piece. “It could easily be innovated if I had a grant or something.”
Others already had their eyes on the prize.
Friends Kiara Laurent and Miaka Kemp enjoyed studying whether a black solar powered heater would produce more heat than a yellow one -- the black heater produced 70 percent more heat, they said -- but both Bonaire Middle School seventh graders said they were anxious to see if they would qualify for the state science fair.
A judging panel including personnel from area universities, retired teachers and Robins Air Force Base officials will score projects Wednesday and Thursday, and awards will be presented Friday.
Projects are judged on scientific thought, engineering goals, thoroughness, display and skills, Williams-Brown said.
Three individual grand prizes will be awarded -- one for the junior division, which is comprised of middle school students, and two for the senior, or high school, division. One team grand prize also will be awarded in the senior division.
Thirty-eight students will be named first-place qualifiers and secure a chance to compete at the State Science Fair at the University of Georgia in March. Selected projects from the state competition can go on to the International Science Fair, which will be held in Pittsburgh, in May.
To contact writer Caryn Grant, call 256-9751.
