How can you turn an apple into a volcano? How does soda affect our teeth? What kind of vessel would keep an egg safe?
Chicago City Day School students explored these and other questions during the school's annual Science Fair, a noncompetitive exhibition of student projects.
While Science Fair took place March 4-7, the event actually began months earlier, when students in senior kindergarten through grade 6 chose the topics they would study. They conducted their experiments at home; in class, they worked with their science, homeroom, and library teachers on research and presentation skills.
City Day seventh-graders, meanwhile, prepared for the popular "Egg Drop" activity; they began constructing protective crates meant to keep eggs from breaking when dropped from a high distance. This project introduces students to the basic principles of engineering and physics, encouraging them to explore concepts like force and momentum.
All of that work led to the Fair itself, when students presented the results of their efforts to an audience of parents, teachers, and classmates. The variety of the projects was striking. A senior kindergartner, for example, explored how the amount of water in a glass affects the sound it makes when struck. A second-grader shows how lemons can produce electricity. And a sixth-grader looked at the science behind pro basketball player Steph Curry's famous 3-point shots.
At the Egg Drop, seventh-graders tested their homemade vessels. The success rate was extraordinary — 11 of 13 eggs survived their drops.
Science Fair is, at its core, a celebration of scientific discovery. It encourages students to direct their own learning and understand the value of repetition and close observation in scientific inquiry. The event also builds students' public-speaking skills, a key emphasis of City Day's curriculum. See more photos from the event below.
- Interested in learning more about our science curriculum? Attend an admissions event.
