Cleaning Up a Water Pollution Nightmare

Cleaning Up a Water Pollution Nightmare

            

           When we were told that we were going to create a science fair project, the first thought that came to mind was how excited I am to actually participate in a science fair. I had always heard about science fairs through the news and in movies, but I had never actually gone to a science or participated in a science fair. As it grew closer to the time of the science fair, I began to think about what type of project I could do that could relate to my unit plan. While working on the inquiry instruction lesson plan ideas for my group, I figured out what I was going to do for my science fair project. 

          I am a true animal lover and I had the television on while working on finding an inspiration for the inquiry instruction lesson plan. The video below is the Dawn commercial that came on the television which was my inspiration and what gave me my idea for my science fair project.

Dawn Saves Wildlife Episode 1: Duck, Duck, Oil

         After watching this commercial, I wondered what other types of materials could clean up oil from water and that is what I did for my science fair project. Oil spills are a nightmare to marine life and it really hit me when I started watching other Dawn commercials on youtube about how Dawn cleans up the oil from the animals. I came up with a list of materials and timed myself to see how long it would take for me to extract the oil from the water as much as I can so that each cup looked about the same color. It wasn't to hard to do, but it was messy. According to my findings, my hypothesis of cotton balls being the most efficient, fastest tool to use was proven to be wrong by about 3 seconds. 

What did I learn?

        Aside from what I gathered during my experiment, I learned that after all of the years that I have been making conclusion, I have been doing them incorrectly. In Elementary School, we were taught to just write our findings with supportive evidence, but in a project we are supposed to report our findings and what should be done or could be done next to inform anyone else who is going to take on the project next. I never knew that until this experience. Even with the criticism, I enjoyed doing the science fair project and I would not mind doing a science fair project in the future for my future work place to hopefully win a grant for the science program through the STEM Challenges.