Around 25 students displayed their work at Saskatchewan Polytechnic Tuesday (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Regional Science Fair

Students show off work at science fair

Apr 9, 2019 | 4:56 PM

The top science students from across the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division were at Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Prince Albert campus Tuesday.

The Prince Albert and Northeast Regional Science Fair brought together about 25 elementary and middle school students and their projects from schools across the northeast.

“These students have been identified from their local fairs, their school fairs as the ones that’ll represent their schools and the different grade levels here at the regional fair,” Superintendent Randy Emmerson said.

The regional science fair has been a fixture in the community for between 15 and 20 years. Emmerson explained the events provide a good opportunity for students to do some hands-on learning.

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Looking at this year’s event Emmerson said there were a number of displays on a wide array of topics.

One of the students who was presenting his work was Nathan Nesbitt from Christopher Lake. Nesbitt’s project focused on a safer, more environmentally friendly sunscreen alternative.

“This year before going on my family vacation, my mom said we had to change which kinds of sunscreen we were buying and using in Hawaii,” he said.

The change in sunscreen was required due to the fact that Hawaii, along with a number of other jurisdictions are banning sunscreens with chemicals like oxybenzone and octinoxate due to their effects on sensitive ecosystems.

“Oxybenzone and octinoxate are known for their hormone disrupting qualities which cause coral to become either encased in its own skeleton or it causes the algae that coral lives in a symbiotic relationship to become toxic,” he said.

When the algae becomes toxic the coral expels it and then eventually dies as a result. Coral reefs are important for the overall health of oceans and they are one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems, Nesbitt said.

For his experiment, Nesbitt decided to test sunscreens with the banned chemicals against those containing chemicals like zinc oxide. During the experiment he kept notes on relevant information and recorded results.

“According to my results, the zinc oxide-based sunscreen was more effective than the oxybenzone-based sunscreen,” he said. “This is a very recent topic and I don’t think enough people know about it,” he said.

Nesbitt’s work earned him one of the top finishes and he will join Ashton Tanchuk at the national science fair in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Tanchuk’s project studied the effects of the rock-forming mineral olivine in removing carbon dioxide from water.

Ashton Tanchuk, left, and Nathan Nesbitt will going on to the national science fair (Submitted Photo/Randy Emerson)

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn