More than 300 students in the Freedom Area School District participated in a science conference Thursday at the high school.
FREEDOM — Don’t call it a science fair.
What happened Thursday at Freedom Area High School was much more than that. Deemed a “science conference,” the event featuring 300 students was the culmination of months’ worth of extensive and original research.
The one rule for the science conference was simple.
“If you can Google the answer, there’s no need to do it,” said Brian Wargo, a physics teacher at the high school who organized the science conference.
There were no fake volcanoes made with baking soda and vinegar. There weren’t any experiments where students sought to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Instead, students studied their own original ideas and let the conclusions speak for themselves instead of setting out to prove a predetermined outcome.
The ideas were many and varied: one student sought to study if horses are primarily right-footed or left-footed, while another student studied hawk migrations along the Ohio River.
Another project involved a student studying the structural integrity of bridges by using uncooked fettuccine noodles and weights. Yet another student mapped out acoustic dead-spots in auditoriums.
Some of those ideas might seem relatively straightforward, but the research that went into the projects was anything but.
“Most consider this the hardest thing they’ve ever done,” Wargo said, noting that the research started in October. “But once it’s over, they feel really good about it.”
The science conference featured students from grade 6 all the way up through alumni. One graduate who returned for the conference said participating was the closest experience she got to a real-world job.
“With Mr. Wargo, it’s a different kind of science,” said Breanna Leasure, 18, who is currently attending the Community College of Beaver County. “If you don’t know the answer, you need to find the answer.”
Cora Mankevich, 18, of Freedom, is a senior at the high school. She studied whether the temperature of wax on skateboards affects the velocity of the skateboard. She found the hotter the wax, the slower the skateboard moved.
For Mankevich, the success of the science conference was all tied to the man who organized it.
“He is the best teacher I’ve ever had,” she said about Wargo.
For some students, months of experimentation yielded inconclusive results, which is another aspect of the science conference that makes it different from a normal science fair.
Kyle Borgman, 18, of New Sewickley Township, wanted to test how the temperature of a gun barrel affects the shot’s accuracy. He was unable to find a conclusive answer, but that doesn’t mean the project was a waste.
The senior said his favorite part of the science conference is seeing the younger students and their projects.
“It’s really cool helping the little kids and seeing the looks on their faces,” he said.
Wargo said there’s another key difference as to why the science conference is not a science fair. There are no winners or losers, no certificates or ribbons. Everyone who completes their project is a winner in their own right, he said.
“There is no order, there is no king,” he said. “We celebrate our work together. It’s all about the science.”
This is the second year of the science conference at Freedom, and Wargo intends to hold the conference every year going forward.
Wargo, who’s taught at the school for 22 years, is also one of 12 finalists for the 2019 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year award.