THOMASVILLE – In a competition that tested students’ comprehension of the scientific method and their organizational skills, Thomas County Central High School hosted its annual science fair.

The school had 10 first-place projects, eight second-place projects and eight third-place projects.

“I am always impressed with the variety of topics students choose to explore through science,” Laura Kornegay, TCCHS science teacher said. “I am looking forward to seeing how well our students do as we compete at region and state levels.”

The two projects that won overall were by C’lee Kornegay and by partners, Parker Maroney and Irvin Moore.

Kornegay’s project explores how biodiversity affects algal response to ocean acidification.

“This is relevant to the environment because ocean’s pH is steadily decreasing due to the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” she said.

Moore and Maroney’s project is called “Biodiesel.” It focused on comparing the price to make biodiesel with the price of regular diesel. Maroney “was amazed” at the project’s placement.

Students were judged Dec 2. Entrants who placed first or second have the chance to move on to the region competition.

The next level will be held on Feb. 10 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.

“I feel that my placement is fair because my project was not complicated,” second-place winner Kaleb Ward, 15, said. “For the next level of competition, I will prepare by improving my data analysis.”

TCCHS’ science department had students participate in the fair to teach them how to investigate a problem and design their own experiments to test their hypothesis. The students can learn about the scientific process and explore interests in science topics outside of the classroom curriculum.

Topics included the neutralization of acids, the effect of color paper and gender on memory recall, and the biomechanics of pitching.

Each judge had specialties to keep in mind when evaluating each project. Their judgement relied on the participant’s ability to work through problems using the scientific method.

“I look for a good understanding of the scientific method,” Valdosta State University professor and judge Josh Rodefer said. “In particular, students who understand the background information, have good logic, and a well-controlled experiment are frequently characteristics that I look for when reading through the posters and journals.”

Rodefer addressed that a topic, even if the experiment is simple, “can be a great project.”

“I look for a good, solid foundation of the scientific method, clean independent and dependent variables and a concerted effort to control as many other factors as possible,” judge Tammy Sharpe, a Thomas County Middle School teacher, said.

Sharpe also noted that project presentation and topic are important factors.

“The topic that is unique and thoughtful will attract my attention,” she said. “I want to see that students are looking at the world around them and finding topics that are relevant and have potential to impact current scientific problems.”

Judge Allen Harden, a retired TCCHS science teacher, said “effort” and “usefulness of information” is what made winning projects stand out from the rest.

Participants are looking forward to the next level of competition.

“I’m excited that me and my partner, Park Maroney, placed first,” Irvin Moore, said. “I am aware the next stage of competition is tough, so I am going to make it creative and add more to make the project stand out.”