Peachgrove Intermediate Students who competed in this year's Niwa Waikato Regional Science Fair with their teachers Prem Rauf and Karley Moore.
Peachgrove Intermediate Students who competed in this year's Niwa Waikato Regional Science Fair with their teachers Prem Rauf and Karley Moore.
Hamilton’s Peachgrove Intermediate has won best overall school in the Niwa’s Waikato Regional Science and Technology Fair for the third time.
Teacher Prem Rauf said when she saw the results on the big screen, she screamed.
“Whaea [teacher] Karley and I were both jumping up and down with joy, then principal Aaron West walked in, and we all screamed even more.
“Mr West has always promoted and supported students with their talents and gifts; that is why we have a sports class that promotes talents in sport, a bilingual class that promotes culture, and a gate class that promotes academic excellence and enters various academic competitions,” Rauf said.
The students that competed in the science fair were from the gate class.
Rauf provided students with an outline of the science fair at the end of Term 1 so they could start thinking about the science fair projects over the holidays.
“I encourage students to think outside the box and try something new, not something from the internet, which is the easy way out. But encourage them to focus on something they are interested in.
“These students are proof that you can win if you go for your own interests,” adds Rauf.
Rauf said they had students competing in all categories of the science fair and they placed in the top three in all, except one category.
Peachgrove student Kion Hara-Liu researched soil liquefaction and placed first in the Year 7 and 8 Planet Earth & Beyond category, also winning a special Geoscience Societal Award for an excellent exhibit from geoscience.
Hara-Liu had a topic in mind, but after testing it, found it was not working the way he hoped and that’s when he stumbled across liquefaction.
“Once I saw it, a light bulb went off in my head, and I instantly knew how to test it.”
Kion Hara-Liu with his awards from the Niwa Waikato Regional Science Fair for the project Soil Liquefaction.
After trials and errors, using dirt, pebbles, clay, and sand, he finished his board.
“I was desperate to win something at the Niwa Waikato Regional Science Fair, so I put a display at the front of my board so the judges could see how I conducted my experiment.”
Ayathma Gamage and Lee Penfold won the Inventions Special Award for an Excellent Overall Invention for their air purifier.
“For our project, we wanted to focus on decarbonisation, which is the process of carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. We wanted to invent a household-friendly option for people to use to decarbonise their homes,” Penfold said.
The pair chose the topic because climate change was a prevalent issue.
The pair used the hard material room at Peachgrove Intermediate to make the box that held the purifier. The material used was a carbon-activated filter and a pre-filter. Then they used a fan, a carbon dioxide meter, and antibacterial spray.
“Through testing by spraying the fan with antibacterial spray, we found that the antibacterial spray makes the carbon dioxide levels rise,” says Penfold.
Once the air purifier was turned on, they tested the carbon dioxide levels using the metre and found that the levels decreased.
Awards
Highly commended, Year 7 Living World: Rishitha Donthi
