New Zealand Association of Optometrists Visual Science Award

Congratulations Feidhlim and Noah.

This week was the annual Aurora Science Fair. On Monday some year seven students took their boards down to the Hutton Theatre to be judged.

Feidhlim and Noah were very interested in Aurora's and were able to describe the conditions required and the science behind them in great detail. The team's initial aim was to make an aurora model, however, they quickly found out how costly this was going to be after researching NASA's simulation. Instead, the boys broke down the components of an aurora by investigating and simulating the magnetic polarities and wavelengths of light.

For all their hard work they won a New Zealand Association of Optomistrists Visual Science Award. 

Owen and Jacob focused their study on the types of mini-beast that were present in their soil at home. They took a 300gm soil sample from each of their backyards as well as a sample from Owen's worm farm. 

They found land hoppers, grass grubs, tiger worms, earthworms, and springtails. 

This project was similar to the AgResearch citizen science worm activity. 

Olivia looked into dehydrating mandarin peels to see if they would compost quicker as citrus peels can take up to six months to decompose. Olivia found out that the dehydrated peels do decompose quicker but also adding dehydrated citrus peel to soil for plants that like acidic soil definitely adds nutrients to the plants quicker. 

Well done to all the budding young scientists.