Cobb-Paulding Science Fair Review

The Cobb-Paulding Science Fair will take place on January 29 th, 2022. Students from both counties will show off their
research and engineering projects. It is important to see the caliber of projects found at these competitions in order to
see the level of expectation for your future projects.

Task: Visit the Cobb-Paulding Science Fair at Smitha Middle School during the Public Display period. Locate three
projects and provide feedback. 1 project should be from your project category from this year’s Science Fair. The other
two projects should be from two other categories so that you see a variety of projects. Fill in the chart for each project
and take a picture of yourself with the board you are viewing. Note: you should be visible in the picture.

When you are finished, submit this form to Mrs. Curran. Be sure to save a copy for yourself to add to your e-Portfolio.

Reflection:
Write a one paragraph reflection about what you learned in your experience visiting the Cobb-Paulding Science Fair.

I both participated and visited so I was operating from two perspectives. One was as an entry, and two as a visitor. I
learned so much from seeing what other people did for projects. I was able to compare mine with different perspectives
on poster creation and how they communicated their projects and data. I was nervous and thinking about how I would
present but walking around and talking to different students really helped me. Last year was virtual so I had no idea
what other people did. This year I had to opportunity to see their projects and to speak to the different students. The
judging circles were very different than the Harrison Stem Fair because we presented in front of the judges and our
peers. Walking around and viewing as many boards as I could taught me a lot about different ways to comminate a lot
of information in more condensed way. I have always been quieter vocally (I speak fewer words) but I tend to say a lot
on paper (it all comes out of me). I focused on Harrison boards for this project because it was easier to digest. Some of
the more complex projects were not done on posters with a template like ours. That made them harder to understand
in many cases at a glance. The one thing I noticed in the room where we displayed was that the categories were not
displayed so I had to guess. That is why Chaithanya’s poster is an example of a similar category as we were in the same
judging circle.
Project 1:
Title:
Water Circulating Compression Sleeve
Category: Student Name(s):
Engineering, sports medicine Addison Gibboney
Brief Overview:

A compression sleeve created to help ice and compress sore arms for athletes to prevent inflammation and help with
pain reduction. The concept is that instead of ice being placed in one area at a time, the sleeve provides a more
widespread icing throughout the arm itself.

Project Strength: Areas for project improvement:

It’s a great idea for one. I think the combination works
and had been proven (ice and compression combination)
The concept is explained well, and the board is easy to
understand. I like that it was clear.
I think the charts needed to be a bit clearer. For example,
I understood them, but I did not understand why they
were repeated. I would have liked either an explanation
of why the charts (tests) were repeated three times with
slightly different results or have the charts have a
different title or subtitle.

Reflection on your own project based on this project:

I think this was a great experiment and clever invention. My own judge feedback showed that my charts needed
clarification too (although I thought they were pretty obvious, I probably needed to make the point in my methods
that I collected both qualitative and quantitative data in order to support the findings as proof of activity levels).

Picture:
Project 2:
Title:
Biodegradable plastics and how to improve them
Category: Student Name(s):
Environmental, Chemistry (?) - there were no categories Chase House
listed in the room
Brief Overview:

This project explored how to find solutions to plastics to make them biodegradable. The objective was to create a
stronger bioplastic and to discover which ratio’s make them as strong and useful as normal petro-polymers (plastics).

Project Strength: Areas for project improvement:

This was so interesting. I found it most interesting I think the Experimental design should be formatted so it
because it was using regular household ingredients. reads more easily

I think the graph was strong and explained in an easily

digested way.

Reflection on your own project based on this project:

I think this was completely different than mine so it’s hard to compare. I will say this was very focused and the poster
was easy to read
Picture:

Project 3:
Title:
Building an artificial pancreas
Category: Student Name(s):
Engineering, medical Madalyn Fisher
Brief Overview:

Design a pump that can neutralize a solution that will mimic insulin with the hope to fine tune for future use.

This project focuses on trying to build an artificial pancreas

Project Strength: Areas for project improvement:

This project was amazing. It was a lot of work clearly. My one complaint was I did not see the hypothesis on the
board. But then I looked at the objective and was able to
The charts were very well done. see it there. My only complaint was I had to jump from
there to the objective.

Reflection on your own project based on this project:

This is very different from mine. However, I certainly hope she will continue this experiment next year. I did that with
mine and it was very rewarding.

Picture:

Project 4:
Title:
Nq01 A viable biomarker for colorectal cancer
Category: Student Name(s):
Bio-medical? Was in my judging circle so close as possible Chairthanya Ganji
Brief Overview:

A study done statistically to determine if an elevated level of NQ01 could lead to early detection of CRC (Colorectal
cancer) to increase survival rates. So, the study is focused is on determining if there is an association between NQ01
polymorphisms and CRC risk.
Project Strength:
Wow. This was complex and impressive. I am humbled.
I would like to have read his research paper to learn
more. I think the combination of extensive data and the
most obvious, help in a true bio-medical lab, made this
project very through and well supported with probably
little flaws. He is lucky to have a strong mentor and
connection.
Reflection on your own project based on this project:
This is a complex experiment that although focused, had a lot of steps and requirements. Like mine, there is a lot
going on in the board.
Picture:
Areas for project improvement:
I really don’t see anything wrong here. I think both the
results and the conclusion are very well done. The only
very tiny comment might be to have explained that an
actual lab experiment was done. Maybe a picture? Don’t
ask me sure where it would go since the experiment was
very complex and the poster had to covey a lot of
information. Chaithanya did a great job.