Students in years 5 to 12 showed off their investigative skills at the Science Investigation Awards challenge at the University of Tasmania on Thursday.

The challenge saw about 230 students from around the North gather together to show all their hard work to a panel of judges. 

The students were asked to investigate a scientific hypothesis from a range of different themes on the topic of their choice. 

The power of helium, the best paper for paper planes and the effect of weather on mood were just some of the clever, and very impressive, ideas being presented. 

After months of hard work and experimentation, the students were finally able to present their projects to a panel of industry experts and judges. 

Flinders Island District High School year 8 student Amber Matthewson, 14, looked into how salt can effect plants, their health and how much they grow. 

“I found that salt does affect how a plant grows and that it would become less healthy,” Amber said. 

“It turns out it doesn’t need much salt to make it ill which I found quite surprising.

“I thought this project was good because it was quite practical and it would be helpful for people to know about.”

Science Investigation Awards coordinator Adam Mostogl said opportunities such as this helped kids to discover a love for science. 

“Science has such a broad application to our lives and at a primary school level you can just explore it and play,” Mr Mostogl said.

“The quality of the work has been astounding – the effort they have put into their projects is incredible and that’s what we want to foster.” 

He said he was highly impressed with the high standard of work and the amount of time and effort put in by each student involved in the challenge.

The winner of the overall young scientist award went to David Hardwicke from Scotch Oakburn College.