A four-wheeled drone with what looks like a sci-fi blaster mounted on top skitters across the concrete floor. It’s locked in a game of laser tag with an identical machine, both being controlled by a couple of kids using iPads.
It was one of many cutting-edge technologies on display in a gymnasium at the University of Montana for the 71st annual Montana Science Fair.
Seventh-grader Levi Taylor made the nearly four-hour drive from Sunburst near the Canadian border to Missoula to compete. For the second year in a row, he experimented with new designs for magnetic levitation trains he hoped could make them more efficient. His hypothesis was proven incorrect.
“The standard worked 100% of the time, and mine worked 0% of the time,” Taylor said with a laugh.
He didn’t take it to heart. It’s all part of the scientific process, Taylor says. His teacher, Alex Aschim, agrees.
“Science fairs, specifically, help kids learn problems, problem solving,” Aschim says. “Things don’t always work out the way you think they’re going to, and that’s OK. That’s science.”
Sunburst brought 9 of its 15 middle schoolers to the fair, an outsized presence for such a tiny town.
The fair’s co-director, UM chemistry professor Dong Wang, says the immense work organizing the event is always worth it in the end.
“Every time I see those kids come into the fair presenting their work in front of the judges and peers and cheer when they get the award, I really enjoy the moment to see those accomplishments,” Wang says.
More than 200 students from across the Treasure State competed. The top competitors will have a chance to enter the national science fair.
