Snowy science project earns grand winner

A cold and wet winter didn’t keep one budding scientist from getting outside and learning something new.

Skyler Cameron, a fifth-grader at Whitefish Middle School, was recently a grand champion winner at the Flathead County Science Fair for his experiment on how temperature affects snow density.

Because the middle school doesn’t have a science fair, Cameron entered as an independent study. In third grade Cameron did his project on dry ice, and DNA was his topic last year.

About 180 projects filled the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building for the fair. Projects focused on biological, engineering and physical sciences.

Students were graded by judges on their use of the scientific method, understanding and comprehension, spoken presentation and board design.

This year, Cameron wanted to see what kinds of things can affect snow density.

“The question was ‘what effect does temperature have on snow density?’” he said. “I hypothesized that when the temperature would rise, the snow density would increase.”

To test that hypothesis, Cameron dug a pit in the snow with an avalanche shovel and used a metal tube to take snow samples at different times of day and in different layers of the snowpack. Using the volume of the tube and the mass of the snow, he was able to calculate the density and compare his findings based on the snow surface temperature over a two week period.

While the results didn’t show a direct correlation between temperature and density, like he had expected, his findings did support his premise once the snow had settled.

“It kind of is a relationship. It will sometimes spike if the temperature gets really high, but there wasn’t a direct linear relationship like I was expecting,” he said.

However, the fun part was looking at the data and discovering something new, he said.

“[My favorite part was] looking at it and actually analyzing the data after all that work and just kind of saying, ‘that’s not what I was expecting. That’s actually pretty interesting,’” he said.

In addition to being recognized for his work by science fair judges, Cameron also won a day at the Flathead Lake Biological Station, where he’ll go in the field with scientists and get a chance to see what they do every day.

With opportunities like that and the science fair, Skyler’s mother Vita Wright said it’s always encouraging to see her son continue exploring new and exciting concepts.

“It’s just fun to see someone who gets an idea and says, ‘I’m going to do this,’” she said.

“But it does pay off sometimes,” Cameron said, holding up a handful of science fair medals.

Wright said she’s grateful to see engaging learning opportunities like the science fair for young students.

“It’s a neat chance for students to find something they’re interested in biology or physics or engineering, just anything around them that they’re interested in, and apply the scientific method,” she said.