Jeremy Stubbins, the winner of this year’s Year 7 Science Fair is not afraid of needles! Although this was not the direct focus of his project, it took Jeremy 54 finger pricks to test the effect of different food groups on his blood glucose levels to prove his hypothesis was correct – that the sugar-laden dinosaur lollies would cause the biggest spike, followed by carbohydrates (potatoes) and protein (beef).

As always there was a diverse range of imaginative projects displayed for the judges to ponder but the winning projects were selected on the basis of their rigour to carry out repeated scientific measurements;  fair testing; analysis of the results and returning to reflect on the hypothesis and any experimental error.

Using light sensitive paper, second place getter, Zac Attwood, rigorously tested the UV protection provided by different levels of SPF sunscreen and thicknesses of clothing. One surprising result was that the higher level  SPF 30 sunscreen provided the lowest level of protection of the samples. Thickness and frequency of application was most important.

In third place, Paige Radisch testing the holding power of different dam designs proving that the buttress design was the strongest. Ben Franich tested three local swimming pools to see the effect that the levels of chlorine had on his asthma and Amelia Blockley tested the energy efficiency of eco and standard lightbulbs.

These five projects will now be forwarded to the NIWA regional fair.

1st Jeremy Stubbins - Sugar Rush
2nd Zac Attwood - UV Protection
3rd Paige Badish - How Much Pressure Can I Hold?
4th Ben Franich - Explorine Chlorine
5th Amelia Blockley - Is It Hot or Watt!

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