Schooled in science

Alex Heeb knows his box turtles. He's tagged them with radio transmitters and tracked them through a wooded area south of Chaffee, Mo.

On Tuesday, armed with a photo-filled display board, the 16-year-old from Chaffee presented his data, collected from July to November, to judges at the 51st annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Heeb collected his turtles from turtle races held at Oran, New Hamburg and Washington, Mo. He tracked 16 turtles after relocating them to a wooded area on private land.

"This one turtle moved over a mile away," he said as he waited for the judging to begin.

At first Heeb found it hard to track the turtles. "I could only track three down in a couple of hours," he said. "It takes a lot of practice to follow the signal."

The homeschooled 10th-grader is fascinated with reptiles and wants to be a herpetologist.

Heeb and Wyatt Walls, a ninth-grader from Steele, Mo., were chosen Tuesday as the two finalists in the senior high school division at the science fair. Walls' project measured the production of hydrogen from algae.

They will go on to compete in May at the International Science and Engineering Fair in New Mexico. Heeb will make his second consecutive trip as a finalist to the international science fair. A third student, 10th-grader Olof Carlsson of Steele, was chosen as an alternate.

Heeb was among some 380 students from 29 junior and senior high schools who created more than 260 science projects for the fair.

Brett Nagel, an eighth-grader at Jackson's Russell Hawkins Junior High School, showed up with his "Amazing Aerodynamics" project. He tested water- and air-propelled rockets made out of two-liter soft drink bottles and cardboard fins to determine which fins best reduced drag. Nagel said he enjoyed the project but that competing provided anxious moments.

"It's pretty intimidating," he said, surveying the room crowded with fellow students and row after row of science projects. "I didn't know there would be so many people here."

He was one of three Jackson junior high school students who competed in the science fair. Their science teacher, David Brummel, said the fair encourages problem solving and creativity. "I try to encourage kids to tackle something that they are interested in," he said.

This year's science fair projects involved experiments on everything from plants to popcorn, breakfast cereals to mousetraps.

Caruthersville Middle School eighth-graders Brittany Clayton and Opan Cornacchione studied the effect of music on plant growth. They concluded that zinnias grew best when exposed to classical music rather than rock or country.

Zachary Fletcher, a seventh-grader at Farmington Middle School, and fellow student Connor Purkett explained how they shot arrows at steel plates and leather placed over honeydew melons to determine which type of medieval armor offered the best protection. Fletcher said layers of leather provided the best protection. "We tried to make it original," Fletcher said of the project.

Dr. Chris McGowan, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at Southeast Missouri State University, served as director of the science fair. The university and the Southeast Missourian sponsor the event.

McGowan wasn't surprised by the quality of the science projects. "We are looking at the best of the best," he said.

While the public may think science appeals more to boys than girls, that's not the case at the science fair. McGowan estimated that girls accounted for more than half of the participants this year.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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