Girls’ School Students Put Curiosity to the Test

From homemade alternatives to popular squishy toys to the effects of screen time on memory, Girls’ School students explored a diverse range of questions at the 2026 Earth Sciences NZ Auckland City Science and Technology Fair.

The projects took students into areas ranging from food and environmental science to sound, UV radiation and osmosis, with four Girls’ School projects earning placings and three also receiving special prizes.

Lara F. took first place in Technology with Needoh or Natural?, which investigated whether homemade squishies could provide a more eco-friendly alternative to Needoh. Lara developed three prototypes and compared them with a Needoh through tests with classmates. Her project also received the MOTAT Award.

Food was at the centre of Rising to the Challenge by Riley V., who investigated how varying the amounts of sugar and yeast in bread affected its weight, size and flavour. After baking 18 breads using six different recipes, Riley found that increasing yeast and sugar made the breads slightly stronger in flavour and, on average, partly larger in volume, while having no impact on weight. The project placed third in Food Science and received The New Zealand Baking Industry Research Trust Award.

Indie H. investigated whether screen time affects memory in Locked in or logged in? She  completed a memory recall test involving the number of items including ability to recall after 30 seconds, with the results compared according to screen time per student. The project placed third in Living World (Human) and also received the House of Science Award.

Exploring a very different question, Mia H. compared types of sound insulation and investigated the effect of increasing distance from a sound source in More to Sound Than Meets The Ears. Sound was measured using a sound meter app, with the resulting data collated and averaged for comparison. Mia placed third in Physical World.

In addition to the above, six of our Girls’ School students were Highly Commended for their range of investigations. 

Avery N. and Mavis N. investigated how baking time and the Maillard Principle reaction affect characteristics of bread, while Charlotte M. tested five sunscreen brands to compare how effectively they blocked UV radiation. Two students used gummy bears to investigate osmosis. Jessica M. soaked gummy bears in different liquids for eight hours before measuring changes in length, while Yvonne G. placed gummy bears in different liquids and recorded changes in their weight after 24 hours. Environmental questions were explored by Eva G., whose Do Sponge Cities Reduce Flooding? compared ground types and run-off to examine the effect of already-flooded ground, and Olivia B., whose Nature’s Filter Factory tested different natural filters on dirty stream water, recording results for nitrates, phosphates, pH and ammonia.

Congratulations to all our Girls’ School award winners on these achievements and on the work invested in developing and carrying out their investigations.