Virtual displays

The science fair had to be canceled.

But months of work didn’t go to waste.

Instead of displaying their projects in person, Fort Recovery Middle School sixth and seventh graders presented them virtually.

Students in Lisa Huelsman and Crystal Fullenakmp’s classes began working on their science fair projects after returning from winter break in January. The event was scheduled for March 26.

The last day of classes before schools were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic was March 16.

“We were kind of hoping that we would be back in school by April,” said Huelsman, who is in her first year at Fort Recovery. “So we were waiting and waiting …”

But by early April it became clear a return was unlikely — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that schools would stay closed for the rest of the 2019-2020 year — so the teachers looked for a different option.

“They had speeches memorized,” said Huelsman. “They had so much work into it that we didn’t want to just keep pushing it off.

“Students just put so much time into it … We just thought it was important to somehow get a grade since they had so much time into it.”

Projects were nearly complete before the schools closed because students had been scheduled to begin presenting in class that week in preparation for the science fair. So, after allowing a couple of e-learning days to put on the finishing touches, the students were given their presentation options. They could either show their projects to their teacher live via Google Meet or record a video presentation.

Most, including sixth grader Aubrie Heitkamp, chose the latter.

“I liked being able to record my speech to get it how I wanted it,” she said.

Huelsman’s students were tasked with comparing consumer products. Heitkamp chose glue.

Why?

“I like slime,” Heitkamp said. “And I wanted to do something with slime. So my parents kind of helped me pick out an idea.”

She chose three different brands of glue — Elmer’s, Crazy Art and Create Basics — and made slime using the same ratios of each along with baking soda and saline solution. She then utilized funnels and glass jars to test the viscosity (a fluid's resistance to flow) of each, timing the amount it took for the slime to reach the bottom of the jar.

At the end of her video, she included a time-lapse of her project in action.

“I thought that was really cool that she did a time-lapse,” said Huelsman. “That was not a requirement. So I thought that was a pretty neat idea to showcase the presentation.”



Other students included extra touches as well. One who studied charcoal used a fiery background on his tri-fold. Another who tested battery life using light bulbs added lighting to her display.

Though it wasn’t the science fair anyone planned, it still provided the students an opportunity to show off their efforts.

“Overall, it went really well,” said Huelsman.