Middle School Science Fair – A Virtual Success

Eight Middle School students experienced another successful showing at this year’s St. Louis Science Fair, which was recently held in a virtual format. Congratulations to all participants! Middle School Science Teacher Rachel Tourais said, “We are so proud of the students’ creative thinking, scientific process and hard work to complete their science projects, especially in these unusual circumstances.”

Students, along with their project titles and award recognitions, are listed below. Also below, several students provided reflections on their work, and one even shared a video explaining her project.

  • Saivi Gadi ’25, Putting a Curtail on Junk Mail: Reducing Carbon Footprints – blue ribbon and two special awards
  • Aniket Joshi ’25, The Mysteries of Maglev Trains: Can we make them go faster? – blue ribbon
  • James Karslake ’25, Improving Soil and Water Erosion at Deer Creek – blue ribbon and a special award
  • Abhinav Katyal ’25, What Is The Effect of Physical Activity on a Male Teenager’s Short-Term Memory? – blue ribbon 
  • Yash Malhotra ’25, 7th Grader Perceptions of Daylight Savings Time (DST) – blue ribbon 
  • Yusuf Zayed ’26, Aquaponics: A Fish and a Plant’s Win-Win – blue ribbon
  • Daniel Chen ’25, Reaction Time: How Age Affects Reaction Time – red ribbon
  • Jason Song ’25, What is the effect of salt types on dissolving rate? – red ribbon

Gadi reflected, “I learned that to make a science fair project, it takes a lot of discipline, focus and consistency. You have to keep going, even when the results aren’t what you expected. I think that each time I do the science fair, I learn something new, and that is what counts. My favorite part of this experience was researching and learning about our environment and what we can do to keep it safe in ways that are accessible to everyone. It was interesting to learn that stopping junk mail can make a big impact on our Earth. This year’s science fair was altogether fun, interesting, and something that I will always remember.” Gadi shared a video explaining her project below.

 

Zayed did his science fair project on “aquaponics, which is plants growing on water.” When asked about the virtual experience, he shared, “Well, first I thought the science fair was canceled all the way, but then I checked my email, and it looked like the science fair was still going on, but virtually. I thought about it. It was going to be hard because I had no experience of doing it. I still gave effort to my project, and I submitted one hour before the deadline. This was a different experience for me to do a science fair.” He had fun learning about aquaponics. “This experiment got me more engaged with plants. My favorite part was actually getting a pet fish for the experiment which was pretty cool.”

Malhotra shared, “I did an observation project this year, so I collected data by passing out a survey to people in my grade. I wanted to see if people prepared for the Daylight Savings time change and if they were affected by it. I learned that most 7th graders did not prepare, yet they were affected by the Daylight Savings time change.”

Congrats to our Middle School scientists for persevering and completing these impressive research projects for the St. Louis Science Fair!