Students satisfy curiosity
Science fair projects judged on research, presentation, content and appearance
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 31, 2014
TALOYOAK/SPENCE BAY
The comfort of living in a heated, modern-day home is not lost on Netsilik student Kenia Pike. In fact, it was her appreciation of life's conveniences that led her to question how the Inuit once lived in iglus without freezing to death.
"How could you survive with the heating in an iglu just like that?" said Pike.
The Grade 4 student decided to find the answer as part of her school science fair project.
Using an iglu set up by another Taloyoak resident, she conducted an experiment. First, she tested the temperature outside and found it was -25 C. The temperature inside the iglu was -22 C.
Next, she had an elder light a qulliq inside the iglu and waited 10 minutes before taking the temperature again. She found the interior of the iglu was seven degrees warmer.
Pike concluded that it's possible to live in a house made of snow but, she said, "keep your clothes on because the temperature must be below zero or the house will melt."
Students in kindergarten to Grade 12 competed in the Netsilik School science fair March 14. Community members, school staff, RCMP, nurses and the recreation co-ordinator judged the students on various elements, including research, presentation, general content, and appearance.
"It's quite an extensive process," said principal Gina Pizzo.
Extra marks were awarded to students who chose to do Northern-themed topics or presented a bilingual project.
The winners in each division - primary, junior, junior high and senior high - moved on to the regional fair and if they're successful they may compete at the Canada-wide national science fair being held from May 10 to 12.
Grade 7 student Holly Tulurialik won first place in her division for her project on harpoons.
She performed experiments to determine if a dull harpoon would work while hunting. Tulurialik found the sharp harpoon head could make it through about four layers of cardboard while a dull harpoon head shredded through only a couple layers before falling out.
She said the most interesting piece of information she learned was the difference between harpoon heads.
Non-toggle heads enter straight and become embedded in the flesh while toggle heads go in straight and rotate 90 degrees.
Tulurialik said she often goes seal and whale hunting with her family and believes her newfound knowledge will be helpful during their next excursion.
Mary Ann Qayutinuak joined Pike and Tulurialik in the regional competition.
The Grade 11 student chose to learn about chewing tobacco.
"I see a lot of youth chewing snuff and I wanted to show what it can do and how it effects their health," said Qayutinuak.
Chewing tobacco stains teeth and can cause oral cancer, heart disease and lead to heart attacks, she noted.
Science fair judges were also impressed by Owen Keenainak's project on touch screens.
"There are two types of touch screens: resistive and capacitive," said Keenainak. "The resistive works by pressure and the capacitive works by electrical properties from our body."
Resistive is cheaper but also easier to break, he added.
Keenainak said he will never look at his iPod Touch the same way.
