Stratford High School Year 12 student Lucas Jacobson (15) with his projects. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Stratford High School Year 12 student Lucas Jacobson (15) with his projects. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Students from Stratford’s two high schools clearly had the winning formula for this year’s Taranaki Science and Technology Fair.
Students from Stratford High School and Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls often enter the fair, which started in 1983. The annual fair receives thousands of entries from school students around Taranaki each year.
Stratford High School student year 12 student Lucas Jacobson was awarded four special prizes. He says the highlight was being named recipient of both of the Terry Stowers Awards for Fair Diligence, created in honour of the late co-manager of the fair.
“Terry was someone that was really involved in the science community in Taranaki. He meant a lot to me and so many people. It was an honour to win the two awards dedicated to him. I won the award for both of the categories.”
Lucas entered two projects in this year’s fair. He says the focus of both projects was minimising food waste.
“Due to rising grocery costs, I wanted to find a way that we could minimise food waste and also help the environment by reducing carbon emissions caused by food waste.”
His first project, in the scientific investigation category, Rooting Out Waste: Underground Solutions was focused on different ways to store potatoes. Once he had the results from this project he moved on to his technological development project, Getting to the Root of the Problem, on root cellars.
“This is used to house potatoes underground. Housing potatoes underground is the most effective method. I used an old chest freezer for this and documented the entire process.”
Lucas says having always enjoyed the science fair, he was keen to encourage more students to enter, setting up a school club focused on it.
“I started a Science Fair Club at the school in March this year to get other people excited about the fair.”
Stratford High School Year 10 student Darwish Ridzuan (14) received first prize for his observational drawing. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Those students, Year 10 students Darwish Ridzuan (14), Hayden Greig (15) and Ryan Hurliman (14), all received top prizes, with Darwish receiving first prize for his observational drawing of a butterfly.
Hayden and Ryan received second place and two special prizes for their technological development project, Iron Engine.
Hayden says they’re pleased with the result.
“We’re pretty happy we won second place and those special prizes as well, especially during our first time entering the fair. It’s not something we expected.”
The iron engine is created using iron cans. Ryan says they tested multiple designs before deciding on the final project.
Year 10s Hayden Greig (15) and Ryan Hurliman (14) won second place and two special prizes for their Technological Development project. Photo / Alyssa Smith
“It was very much a group effort. We wanted to produce a product that was the best and this design was the most effective.”
With the two Stratford high schools receiving top results it could be described as a local battle of the brains, something Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls student Maiy Ung (15) knows quite a bit about. Her scientific investigation project, Battle of the Brains, earned her first place in her category.
Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls Year 10 student Maiy Ung (15) received first place for her scientific investigation project, Battle of the Brains. Photo / Alyssa Smith
She says her project focuses on AI (artificial intelligence) and how it compares to the human mind when producing a piece of creative writing at Year 10 level.
“The teachers could tell which ones were AI. When getting feedback they all said the AI-produced writing was vague and lacked connection. I think it’s fair to say while the AI work had a greater vocabulary and sentence structure, the year 10 writing was better in that it had feeling and emotion.”
Still in the subject of battling brains, Maiy was also one of the four members of her school’s year 10 quiz team, which came second place on the night. Fellow quizzer Amelia Ogle (14) says the team practised during lunchtimes to prepare.
“We’re quite happy with where we placed. We were in the lead for a while but it came down to the last round.”
The Year 10 quiz team from left: Maiy Ung (15), Amelia Ogle (14) and Isabela Lee-Alvarez (14). Absent: Eden Smythe (14). Photo / Alyssa Smith
Isabela Lee-Alvarez (14) says the quiz was fun and interactive.
“There was a challenge to build a tower, create a flow chart, identify parts of the body and were tested on different science skills. If I could, I’d definitely enter again.”
Zoe Smith (14), also in year 10, received a merit for her scientific photography entry.
Zoe Smith's photograph won merit. Photo / Alyssa Smith
“The theme was Nature out of Place so I took a photo of a tree in the ocean at Ohawe beach. I’m pretty happy with how I placed.”
Year 9 students Dominique Tozer and Jesica Howard (both 13) placed third in the scientific investigation category by proving parents lie. Their project, The Five Second Lie, debunks the myth told by parents that food is fine as long as it’s picked up in five seconds, says Dominique.
We dropped pieces of bread on the floor for different lengths of time to see how it would react and then put it in a controlled environment to monitor. Regardless of how long it was left on the floor, it still picked up germs.”
Jesica says they’re pleased with their result.
“It was our first time entering the fair. We work well together so decided to enter as a group.”
Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls Year 9s (from left) Dominique Tozer and Jesica Howard (both 13) placed third in the scientific investigation category. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Stratford High School: Lucas Jacobson Terry Stowers Award for Fair Diligence x2, NZIFST prize and Beca prize. Darwish Ridzuan: 1st Year 10 observational drawing. Hayden Greig and Ryan Hurliman: 2nd Year 10 technological development, IOT Taranaki Outstanding Technology Award and Ara Ake prize.
Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls: Zoe Smith, merit Year 10 scientific photography, Dominique Tozer and Jesica Howard 3rd Year 9 scientific investigation, Maiy Ung 1st Year 10 scientific investigation, 2nd year 10 quiz.
