MOORPARK : Chaparral Students Excel at Science Fair

Of the 28 students from Chaparral Middle School in Moorpark who entered the Ventura County Science Fair last month, more than 20 came out winners.

And the secret to their success, their teacher says, was a program that pushed each of the school’s 480 students to develop their own science projects.

“We’ve found this is a great way to learn,” Chaparral science teacher Mary-Alice Reyburn said. “They develop an idea all the way through and get involved in real problem solving. It’s a hands-on way of learning.”

Reyburn said the students were told about the science requirement when they were in the fifth grade. When they entered the sixth grade, their topics--ranging from “Growing Toe Fungus With Sweat” to “How Can We Improve Landfills”--were developed.

Teachers for other subjects, such as language and history, gave students class credit for some of their research and writing on the science projects.

“It was a team effort,” Reyburn said. “And, over time, the children developed a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.”

When the school had an in-house competition March 2, the projects filled the auditorium and overflowed into classrooms with displays that showed off a cross-section of student interest in botany, chemistry, biology, physics and animal science.

Sixth-grader Gary Wallace, whose project on landfills won a blue ribbon in the Ventura County Science Fair on March 18, said he was able to develop his idea over a long period.

He had read about how magnets quicken the growth of radishes and wondered if they would somehow speed up the decomposition of trash.

“It was sort of weird how I got the idea,” Gary said. “I saw something with President Clinton mentioning how we were running out of landfill space, and then I read the article about radishes.”

Gary’s project showed that magnets do speed trash decomposition.

Five other Chaparral students won first-place awards, three won second-place awards, one won a third place, six won honorable mentions and six won special category awards.