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Trial and error
By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- Victoria Santos thought she had covered all her bases. She had followed the scientific method to the letter. Three months from her January deadline, she was confident that her science fair project would be a success. But the 17-year-old Lakewood High senior was about to find out that in the scientific world, even the best-laid plans can go awry. Victoria was one of 331 Pinellas County sixth- through 12th-graders who participated last week in the 2002 regional science and engineering fair at Pinellas ParkSide mall. The students qualified for the regional fair by competing in science fairs at their schools in January. With help from parents and teachers, they set up their projects at the mall Thursday evening and returned Friday to field questions from judges who quizzed them on their methods and results. During the question-and-answer period, many of the young scientists admitted their projects hadn't proceeded according to plan. Several reached conclusions that didn't match their hypotheses. A few of them, including Victoria, encountered difficulties that would have derailed less dedicated students. Their experiences weren't surprising to Ralph Painter, a Tampa Electric Co. engineer who was one of the judges. "In school we're so often taught there is only one way to solve a problem, but in life, it's not that straightforward," he said. "Trial and error are typical of engineering and science in general. Rarely does what you plan the first time really work." Victoria's problems began in October. To prove that carbonated water would accelerate the growth of hydroponic tomatoes, she built a nutrient delivery system at Lakewood's research lab. When the PVC seals refused to hold, she spent three weeks experimenting with different kinds of glue until she found one that was strong enough. Then, after returning from a 10-day Thanksgiving break, she discovered half of her plants had died because of a pump malfunction. She thought about giving up, but her science teacher, Stephen Wagner, encouraged her to keep working. "I was shocked when I saw my plants were all shriveled up. I wanted to stop, but he said, "No, you've got to keep going,' " Victoria said. "What I learned is that sometimes things don't go the way you want them to, especially in science. You just try to learn from it." Meanwhile, Long Vong, an eighth-grader in the honors program at Meadowlawn Middle School, also was having plant-related problems. To prove that distilled water is a better choice than tap or filtered water for growing vegetables, he planted tomato seeds in Styrofoam cups. Two weeks later, the seeds hadn't sprouted, so Long planted lettuce seeds. The results weren't much better. Finally, he turned to his science teacher, Michael Malinka, for help. Malinka suggested planting beans. "I just wanted to do a different project," Long said. "My science teacher told me to finish the one I had started, that there wasn't really a need for me to start over." The beans sprouted, but they all grew to the same height. Long concluded that the soil may have acted as a filter that protected the plants from the chemicals, and has decided to continue his research, even though he has completed what he needed to do for his project. Megan Nowikowski, a seventh-grader at St. Cecelia Interparochial School in Clearwater who had been working on her project since August, was well on her way to proving a correlation between economic indicators and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Basing her hypothesis on historical precedent, she backed it up with information from her father, who is a stockbroker. But then Sept. 11 came. Like Victoria and Long, Megan worked through the unexpected and ended up learning more than she had anticipated. While such difficulties can be unnerving, they can be great learning experiences for students, Largo Middle School science teacher Leslie Pohley said. "Mishaps prepare children for the fact that things don't always come out perfectly in the real world," she said. "They teach kids that if they don't succeed the first time, they need to try again." Andrew Tannahill, a sixth-grader at Bay Point Middle, was one of several students whose conclusion did not match his hypothesis. He set out to prove that grass in a terrarium will grow taller than grass in the open. A Florida newcomer, Andrew hadn't counted on the warm, humid December climate. "Everywhere I measured, the grass was 8 centimeters tall," Andrew wrote in his project summary. "I concluded that the Florida weather at the time of the experiment neutralized the terrarium effect." Samantha Long, a Largo Middle School seventh-grader, doubted her research when it disproved her theory that hair conditioner makes human hair stronger. Testing different colored hair strands provided by five her "most cooperative friends," she found that although they could bear equal weight, the conditioned strands broke easier under pressure. "I thought it was going to be the other way around, so I went over it and did it again," she said. "It still turned out the same, so it wasn't anything I was doing wrong." Svjetlana Damjanovic, a Meadowlawn eighth-grader, also doubted her initial research. She thought cold water would freeze faster than hot water and designed an experiment to prove her theory. After testing four different temperatures, she was surprised to learn that the hottest water froze the fastest. "My dad couldn't believe it. He said, "No, that's not true,' " she said. Thinking that she had made a mistake, she repeated her experiment four times and finally concluded that her hypothesis had been incorrect. Mrs. Pohley, who has been teaching middle school science for 24 years, agreed with Ralph Painter that trial and error are par for the course. "That's science," Mrs. Pohley said. "You're not always going to have the right answer. Sometimes it leads students to a different answer, which could lead to another question. Error always affords new opportunities for learning." And the winners are!Regional science fair winners will be announced tonight at a recognition ceremony at Osceola High School. Awards will be given in 14 categories including botany, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics and zoology. Students proceeding to the state science fair also will be named. Neighborhood Times will publish a list of the winners next week.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
