FRIENDS recently held our first ever Virtual Science Fair, with the theme being "Ensuring access to clean and safe freshwater for all". We waited in anticipation as students prepared their projects for submission, curious to see where the theme led them. There were 16 submissions total from nine different schools across Abaco. Surprisingly, both entries for our Lower High School Category had the same idea: using moringa seeds to purify dirty water (from different schools). Check out their amazing projects for yourself:
J'Nya Been, Long Bay School, Grade 9 "Purifying & Power-Packed Moringa Proteins" - First Place
J'Nya focuses on moringa seeds as an effective bio-coagulant, and aimed to purify pond water using a moringa seed solution. Her hypothesis was "Moringa seeds when crushed and added to turbid, unsafe water will cause larger particles and bacteria to coagulate if left undisturbed for 1-2 hours". For her experiment, she started by making a solution by mixing 1/4 teaspoon of crushed moringa seeds and 6 tablespoons of water. She had two cups, A and B - cup A treated with the moringa seed solution, and cup B as the control, not being treated. Once the moringa seed solution was added, she mixed it together and observed changes to the to cups over the course of an hour. You can view her timelapse below:
In conclusion, J'Nya noted that moringa plants grow very easily where we live in The Bahamas and no special equipment was necessary during this experiment. However, she concluded that research about the effectiveness of moringa seeds and purifying water is ongoing.
Marissa Bethel and Kailey Sweeting, Hope Town, Grade 7 and 8 "Ensuring Clean Water with Moringa Seeds" - Second Place
Marissa and Kailey did two experiments with the moringa seeds. In one, they used water from a cistern that had been untreated for months and in the other, mixed water with dirt and used moringa seeds to attempt to purify both of them. They had a test and control for each experiment. In the video, you can see them crushing the moringa seeds to form a paste before putting it into the test bottle.
After testing the total dissolved solids (ppm), they concluded that moringa seeds may not be the best way to purify water, as the ppm gets higher the longer you leave the morgina paste in the water. They mentioned that even though the water may appear clean, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is clean.
Well done to all of our participants who submitted projects for our Science Fair! We are so proud of their creativity and them taking the time out of their schedules to participate. Thank you to our judges, parents, teachers and principals for their unwavering support.
We'd also like to thank our sponsors, the Bahamian Environment Protection Foundation (BEP Foundation) and Abaco Freight for making this event possible.
Check out some photos above from our Science Fair winners receiving their prizes! Pictured from left to right: Upper Primary 1st place winners, Sanaa Mills & Chasity Fawkes with their teachers from Fox Town Primary, Lower Primary 1st place winner Hannah Russell of James A Pinder Primary, Lower High 1st place winner, J'Nya Been with her mother Nadine Been and teacher Mr. Castillo, Upper High 2nd place winner Tianna Bootle from Patrick J Bethel High and Principal McIntosh and teachers from Cooper's Town Primary.
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