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| Science Fair Projects Winners |
Capping off the regional science fair, which featured 116 projects by 156 students from across the North was an awards ceremony Saturday, naming winners who will move on to compete at the national level.
Five students were chosen during the presentations at École secondaire catholique Theriault. Winners' subjects ranged from saliva comparisons to the educational system and a solution to cholera epidemics.
Grade 12 Theriault students Stefanie Dubé and Emilie Brule developed a water filtration system that they explained could be used to quell disease in Third World countries.
"This is an issue that is present today, that people are dealing with," said Dubé. "We did a lot of research and came up with a simple system that can really be used anywhere."
The pair said their "real world solution" is likely one reason they took home top honours in the senior category.
Fellow winners Janelle Robichaud and Valerie Desjardins from École catholique Anicet Morin used their project to dispel a common pet perception.
"You know how people always say a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's?" asked Robichaud. "Well, we wanted to see if that was really true."
The students tested the saliva of three cats, dogs, and humans to compare the bacteria count of each, and found the belief to be true.
"The humans had the highest amount of bacteria in their saliva, and the dogs and cats are about equal.
"It's funny, because when you think about it, people are grossed out when an animal licks an ice cream cone, but they think nothing about a person taking a bite."
Owen Hogg, a Grade 8 student at École St. Michel in New Liskeard, will also bring his project to the National competition in May in Toronto.
Tackling the advanced topic of the effects of education on students' creativity, Hogg said his interest has always been peaked by psychology.
Administering a creativity test to children from Grades 2 to 8, he found that as years of education increased, creativity went down.
"This is an important project, because we need creativity for lots of jobs. It's the only intelligence that goes down as education goes up."
He said the results of his project could be used to re-think certain aspects of the educational system.
"We should be focusing more on creative intelligence, and maybe modify some of our educational programs."
Science Timmins president Antoine Garwah said every year, the calibre of the science projects continues to amaze him.
"Every year, the projects get better and better. Whether the students are highlighting problems in society or tackling issues like climate change or cancer, the innovation is amazing.
"This year was no different."
The students will attend the national science fair competition in Toronto from May 14-21, where team Canada will be chosen to compete on an international level.
