The Port Aransas Science Fair occurred November 19th and was a culmination of six weeks of research and experimentation by 4th and 5th graders of the Port Aransas Independent School District. The University of Texas Marine Science Institute Scientist-in-Residence graduate students work with the school to provide assistance to science teachers throughout the district, with a focus on grades 4-9. This year two UTMSI graduate fellows, Carrie Harris and Meredith Evans, helped the Port Aransas students and teachers prepare for the science fair. Each student designed, executed, and analyzed the results of their own science experiment.
Students presented a poster detailing their experiments to local judges from UTMSI. This year, the fellows assembled 20 judges from UTMSI for this event, which included four UT-Austin graduate faculty, post-doctoral scientists, and 14 graduate students. Student projects spanned a range of topics from ‘what materials insulate ice the best’ to the ‘diet preferences of pets’ to ‘determining what brand of paper towels is the most effective.’ The Science Fair was a big success and couldn’t have been done without assistance of the Scientist-In-Residence program, which is supported by the Port Aransas Independent School District, Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.
Details on this program are available at https://www.utmsi.utexas.edu/visit/scientist-in-residence.