ADAMS TWP - Mars Elementary students will have a chance to strut their scientific stuff on Thursday night.

The public is invited to the first science fair at the school, which will be held in the cafeteria.

Chuck Prijatelj, instrumental music teacher and event coordinator, said he has 57 entries from third, fourth and fifth graders.

"This is something we have wanted to do for a long time," said Prijatelj. "Our hope is that this introductory science fair will stimulate an interest in science in the classroom and beyond."

Prijatelj said from 6 to 7 p.m., students will be with their projects to explain them. At 7 p.m., each student will receive a certificate of participation, then educators from Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh will give their Fire and Ice presentation in the gymnasium. The public can attend that presentation.

Regarding the science fair portion of the evening, Prijatelj stressed that students did more than think of an idea and slap something together.

"They learned the scientific process," said Prijatelj. "From data collection to research to hypothesis to conclusion. And that process will be on display with each entry."

The science fair is a voluntary event in which each student completed a project outside of school, but Prijatelj said support was available from teachers.

He said a packet was sent home with each student on Jan. 10 outlining the event for students and parents. Included in the packet was a list of Web sites with project ideas. A parent night was held Jan. 12 to explain the scientific process and the parameters of the non-competitive event.Some of the entries to be displayed are a robot that traverses a maze, hearing tests, a telegraph machine, and studies on animal and human instincts.Fifth grader Alessa Conner's project is on how a tornado is formed, complete with a demonstration. Alessa, the daughter of Patty and Steve Conner of Mars, said she learned a lot of fun facts about tornadoes during the research and data collection phases of her project. She was delighted to learn Western Pennsylvania is not a prime candidate for a twister."It made me feel a lot better," said Alessa.Alessa said it took determination on the part of every student who entered a project for the science fair."You have to be organized or you'll never get it done," said Alessa. "And you have to have fun."Alessa, who plans to be a podiatrist, hopes people attend the fair."Then there will be another one next year," she said.