Global warming at the science fair

Unalakleet students explore science of climate change

High school student Michelle Kavairlook's science fair project was entitled: “Does salt water effect global warming?”.

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A WWF funded project allowed students to explore the science of climate change in Unalakleet, Alaska.
© Henry Oyoumick

Students in the small Alaskan village of Unalakleet explored the science behind climate change and shared their findings with the community in a day long science fair.

The WWF project provided funding for the Native Village of Unalakleet (NVU) to work with the principal of the Unalakleet Schools and 2 science teachers, Andri Chin and Reese Huhta, to create science projects about climate change.

As part of the project students had to follow the scientific process, provide a 3-page written report for their Language Arts class and publicly share their findings with parents and community-members. The children were very excited to have the opportunity to share their work.

Not all students studied the effects of climate change, but most projects focussed on environmental issues. Some of the topics students selected for their projects were:

Effects of toxins on plants.
Could exhaust affect growth on plants?
Does salt water affect global warming?
How much cotton does it take to absorb oil?
Effects of elevation of snow freezing and thawing affect salinity.

Henry Oyoumick, NVU watershed coordinator, said: "We feel that the theory of global warming works best if the students learn early in their lives the way we treat the Earth and the impact of what we put into the atmosphere."

The students also produced 3 public service announcements to reflect what they learned from the elders.

Thank you to Sam Towarak Sr at Radio Station KNSA for his help. A small documentary about the project was produced by Jeanie Greene Productions, Inc. and aired on Heartbeat of Alaska on KAKM station in Anchorage.

Michelle, a high school student in Unalakleet, Alaska, created a science project that looked at the effects of saltwater on climate.

Does salt water affect global warming?

Michelle Kavairlook's science fair project was entitled: “Does salt water affect global warming?”

Michelle simulated the Earth and the sun with a black tray of fresh water and a 150 watt light bulb. Two of the constants were to ensure that the trials had the same room and water temperature and that the distance from light bulb to water surface was the same. Additionally, the length of time for light exposure was down to the second. A variable was to apply varying amounts of salt dissolved in a constant amount of water for each trial.

Michelle’s hypothesis was that more salt would increase the water temperature in the tray exposed to a timed light. Varying amounts of salt (generally measured in milligrams) was applied in several tests and gradually applying increased amounts of salt until the solution came to a saturation point.

When there is an increase in atmospheric temperature, there is a likelihood of more salts dissolved in the ocean.