YELLOWKNIFE - The next generation of historians and consumer product testers were on display at the annual Yellowknife Regional Learning Fair last Friday and Saturday.

Grade 6 students Ian and Paulina Brooks, who are twins and half-Scottish/half-Greek, showed off their duelling family heritage research projects at the Yellowknife Regional Learning Fair last Friday. They were two of 87 students from across Yellowknife displaying their science and history projects. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

The event, held in the gymnasium of Range Lake North school, assembled for the third straight year the winners (from Grades 4 through 9) of individual science and history fairs from across the city.

The competition was stiff, and in some cases, ran down family lines.

Grade 6 twins Ian and Paulina Brooks were literally toe-to-toe, their projects displayed side by side.

Both Ian and Paulina took the opportunity to research their family heritage, with each focusing on the lineage of one parent.

Ian, who sported a kilt for the fair, discovered the Scottish roots of his father's family.

"My great-great-grandfather came to Canada from a small Scottish town when the government offered his family land," said Ian. "I also found out that bagpipes didn't come from Scotland - they came from ancient Rome. I was disappointed."

His toga-wearing sister Paulina decided to delve into her mother's Greek background.

"It's my heritage and I found out a lot of things I didn't know before," she said.

Paulina said there was some competition between her and her brother.

"We both want to win," she said, grinning.

The fair may have also served as the training ground for one future psychologist.

Grade 8 student Billy Medernach conducted a study on how people's fears change over time.

"I did surveys," said Medernach, who said he is scared of spiders. "Everybody has fears. The ones that came up a lot were death, failure, and fear of injury, accidents or incapacities.

"When people are younger, they fear stuff like animals and the dark. But, as the get older, they begin to fear the death of their family."

Elsewhere at the fair, students were questioning the validity of consumer product advertising.

Another Grade 6 student, Tiffanni Hamilton, was inspired by diaper commercials to test which diaper brand could hold the greatest amount of water.

She also happens to help change the diapers of her two baby sisters.

"Because of the commercials and stuff, I thought Huggies would be better," she said. "But even though Huggies costs more money, it doesn't work as well.

"I did my experiment three times, and I found that the Co-op brand was the worst. It only held one cup of water. Pampers is the best."