It was the ultimate show and share for senior physics students and the last one of their public school days. By all accounts they did a stellar job.
Great Bend High School Physics II students of Jessica Nairn, science teacher, hosted a come-and-go event during the students’ last week of high school in which administrators, teachers and other classmates quizzed them about their final projects.
“The purpose of the project was for the students to grow as budding scientists,” Nairn said. “They had to conduct their research of their topic, conduct experiments and write lab reports to complete all the facets of the project.
“For my first year of having students present in this manner, I believe it was successful,” she said. “There are changes I have in mind, but overall, they hit all my expectations.”
Nairn said students were given about six weeks to complete their projects and all of the students increased their knowledge base.
“They also learned some good life lessons about procrastination,” she added.
“Even though this part isn’t physics related, I think they learned the most about hitting deadlines by themselves without the constant spoken reminders, which is an important skill that will be honed during their college days.
Students and their projects included:
• Dorian Lueth, whose project was about sound and resonance. “I built a guitar to demonstrate the effects of sound and resonance,” he said.
• Madison Otter, whose project was about color. “I tested two groups of primary colors to see which would produce the brightest color,” she said.
• Dawson Clark, whose project was about golf. “I tested how each club would affect how far the ball would fly,” he said.
• Wyatt Rugan, whose project was about rockets. “I tested how weight impacted the maximum height of rocket flight,” he said.
• Brodie Owens, whose project was about heating metals. “I learned to always be safe and prepared when handling really hot stuff,” he said.
“What a great opportunity for the students to present the knowledge they have gained in their class,” said
Interim Superintendent Khris Thexton, one of the invited guests. (Thexton will officially become superintendent on July 1.) “I appreciate the extra effort Mrs. Nairn’s class put into the project. They were all very well done.”
Nairn said she will continue to make this project part of her Physics II curriculum.