Amanda Shavers-Davis/The Cullman Times Good Hope High School science teacher Susan Harris lays out numerous poster entries for the 2011 Cullman County Science Fair. Posters and projects will be open for viewing Thursday.

Considering all the different things she could be spending money on, Susan Goble is more than happy to encourage her daughter’s latest interest in solar power.

“We were looking for ideas at Hobby Lobby, and my daughter loves putting gadgets together, and she spotted this, which works with solar power,” Goble said Wednesday afternoon, while dropping off a sheet of paper for her daughter’s science fair project at the Wallace State coliseum.

Goble’s daughter Kailey, a fifth grader at Fairview Middle School, built a small solar powered “airplane” attached to a spinning pole for her 2011 Cullman County science fair project. Whenever sunlight, or a flashlight for the experiment’s purposes, is directed at the solar panel the plane propeller springs to life and spins the plane in circles.

“Kailey thought it was neat, then I told her she could do her science fair project on this, since solar power is being used now as a new source of energy,” Goble said.

Kailey’s project is one of 207 entered in this year’s contest  by students in grades 4-12, which officials say is comparable to participation in recent years.

In addition to the projects, approximately 180 science posters were entered by students K-3.

Weather was the overall theme for this year’s poster contest, Good Hope High School science teacher Susan Harris said. To go along with the theme, cotton balls and googly-eyes were a popular prop to show clouds and tornadoes, while some students focused on the recent snow and heavy rainfall.

“The posters are just really great this year, and the kids have done such a fantastic job,” Harris said. “One kindergarten student took the entire month of February and tracked the weather, and kept up with stickers on what type of clothes match the conditions for each day. The title was ‘What Should I Wear Today.’”

Harris said the event is one of the greatest opportunities teachers have to engage students in science, as well as get parents and siblings involved.

“This is about putting science in motion, and if you do it, you understand it,” she said. “It’s a really good family project, because it gets kids competing against each other and engaged.”

The Cullman County Science Fair begins in earnest today, with viewing open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Wallace State coliseum in Hanceville. The awards ceremony is set to begin at 6 p.m. tonight.

‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 220.