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| Mesonet Soil Temperatures |
by Kris Kesler
Sulphur High School, Sulphur, Oklahoma
(presented at the 1995 EarthStorm Science Fair)
During the 1993-94 school year,
our 8th grade science class worked with Oklahoma Mesonet data. We made charts,
maps, and graphs of current weather conditions. The next year, as a freshman
in high school, I frequently used Mesonet data and the computer to look at weather
conditions over the state. Because of an interest in soils that I developed in
4-H work, I looked at soil temperatures at Mesonet sites in our area. It seemed
to me that the soil temperatures in Sulphur were consistently higher than those
in surrounding areas. I decided to find out why, and this became my science fair
project.
The first competition I entered was the EarthStorm Science Fair. I was
not comfortable presenting the project, but I got through it and won first place
in Agriculture and Biology. When I returned home, I had a couple of weeks to
revise my paper and then entered the Regional Science fair. Again, I won awards.
One of the awards was from the Navy and included a graphing calculator, which
I think is great. The judges gave me some helpful hints and I got busy with
a major revision.
I sent a copy of my paper to Billy McPherson and Renee McPherson
at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. They spent a good deal of time helping
me rethink my project. They made many suggestions that I incorporated into my
study. E.D. Roundasville also helped me run a statistical analysis and it confirmed
my other findings. The analysis brought out some surprising information about
the controlling variables in the project. I spent hours and hours after school,
weekends, and even a snow day working on my project.
After the paper was finished,
the next step was to move from a memorized talk to a more conversational presentation.
My teacher [Mrs. Richardson] and I worked at this for some time and when we
arrived at the State Science Fair, I was proud of my project and much more
confident with my presentation.
The awards I won at the State Fair were a nice
confirmation of my work, but during this project I learned so much more. Some
of the things I learned were: the importance of setting up a clear, well-designed
experiment, how to use the computer with much more ease, the need to start
early, and how important your presentation skills are. These skills will certainly
give me a faster start as I do a study next year. I recommend doing a science
fair project, but get ready for a great deal of hard work. |
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