92 participate in Science Olympiad

Fourth-grader Kimber Rogers and third-grader Dale Soltis spooned sand into a clear plastic cup as they tried to estimate how much would equal 100 grams.

That was just one experiment the students had at Joe Walker Elementary School for the Science Olympiad Thursday. Ninety-two students, including several gifted students from Claysville Elementary, participated in the McGuffey district event.

The cup was roughly a quarter of the way full when Dale had a question.

"How many scoops has that been so far?" he asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't counting," Kimber said as she eyed the sand in the cup and then the spoonful in his hand. "I'd put that scoop back."

He did.

Then she put the cup of sand on the gram scale to measure how much they had in the cup.

They ended up with 150.2 grams.

"Oh, that's terrible," Kimber said.

Teacher Elaine Calvert came over to ask how their experiment was going.

Kimber told her the results.

"No kidding?" Calvert said. "I guess grams must be really small."

The purpose of the experiment was not for students to be exactly right, but to get an idea of how small grams really are.

For each experiment students had to work with a different student, said Kelley McGuier, McGuffey gifted teacher. She said all Joe Walker third- and fourth-graders were participants. They had the chance to experiment with a variety of ideas, including density, an owl's food chain, building a barge, building rotary flying devices and magnets.

"It's been a wonderful experience to watch the students learning about things they don't have a strong background in," she said.

The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh donated $2,000 to the school for the science equipment used during the event. Parents donated other materials, and the PTO gave money for each of the students to get an Olympiad T-shirt.

"It's the Joe Walker community that allowed this to be so successful," McGuier said, adding that she plans to have another Science Olympiad next year.

Parents and high school gifted students volunteered in the classrooms for the event, which senior Morgan MacBeth said was really nice.

"I wish I would have done it in fourth grade," she said.

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