John Brown Francis Elementary has more than 20 aspiring scientists thanks to Tracey Wysor, a parent volunteer.

Currently, on the elementary school level, students have a science class once a week and Wysor, who has two children enrolled at John Brown Francis, wanted to give students a chance to work with science more. So Wysor, who has a background in marine science and is an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University, hosted a science fair for all of the students of John Brown Francis. It was an optional fair and for participating students Wysor distributed packets with ideas of kid-friendly experiments and how to set up a poster board.

The fair on June 4 had 21 students participating, taking time after school to work on the projects. The “no-stress, non-competitive” fair let students do a project on their own, with a friend, or even with a sibling.

Students started in March by submitting topics and had to have tri-fold poster boards ready for the fair. Some of the topics included which paper towel was the most absorbent, whether or not soil or manure is better for growing plants and even how different liquids affect the health of teeth.

Audrey Paquette, a 5th grader, used eggs for the equivalent of teeth and left them in different liquids: milk, water, Sprite and apple juice. She expected Sprite to be the worst, but was surprised when apple juice did the worst damage.

Audrey said she joined the fair because it looked fun and would definitely do it again if the school hosted one. Audrey’s mother, Carla Paquette, said other than proofreading and helping her daughter look for experiment ideas she really didn’t have to help. She said her daughter was invested in seeing how the eggs would change and learned a lot from the fair.

“They only get science once a week and it should be every day,” Carla said.

According to Wysor, elementary school students are at the perfect age for scientific inquiry, but the subject isn’t emphasized enough in school.

“Kids are born questioning the world and how it works,” Wysor said. “Somehow, over time, we squash that.”

She says parents see that too and that’s why they were “on board” for the project because they would also like to see the sciences better supported in schools.

There wasn’t a winner or a loser, but every student that participated received a ribbon for participating.

“We just wanted to encourage and reward students for their initiative and creativity,” Wysor said.

Ryan Mullen, coordinator of mathematics and science for Warwick Public Schools, attended the fair and said he was impressed with the projects he saw the students bringing in.

“Some of the students took things they were learning in class and expanded on it for their project; they delved deeper.”

He said it is important to foster an interest in the process of inquiry at a young age.

Wysor suggested a science fair instead of a club or lecture program because she wanted the students to explore what was interesting to them instead of just getting “fed” something.

“We wanted them to be proud of their accomplishments and learn something along the way.”