By Hadas Kuznits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The country’s oldest city-wide science fair got underway Wednesday afternoon at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on the Ben Franklin Parkway.

About 500 projects were submitted to the 34th annual George Washington Carver Science Fair by area fourth, fifth and sixth graders.

“It is one of the largest and oldest urban science fairs in the country,” says Nancy Peter, one of the coordinators of the Carver Science Fair. “It’s pretty amazing, we call it the city’s best kept secret.”

(Science fair at Academy of Natural Sciences Credit: Hadas Kuznits)

Students use their creativity to decide what they want to investigate using scientific methods.

“I did, ‘Do roots always grow down?’ and I found out that no matter what position the seed is in the roots always grow down,” said one student.

“My project was to test whether no music, rock music or classical music would help a mouse get through a maze the fastest,” explained another student.

A secondary fair will be held next month for students in grades seven through 12.

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