Island’s 50th Annual Science Fair set for December 5
Ninth grader Francesca Frasco working on a Science Fair project in teacher Daniel Williams’ laboratory after school hours as she prepares for the 50th annual event to be held at the school December 5. At rear is ninth grader Emily Strauss working on her Science Fair project.
Francesca Frasco, 14, is exploring estrogen mimics — artificial hormones that can affect our bodies.
Like any good scientist, the Shelter Island School freshman chose the topic because she wanted to break new ground. No one in the 50 year history of the school’s Science Fair has explored her subject.
“I thought it would be cool,” she said about the project she’s calling “Flies and Guys.”
Her approach is to use a fragrance popular with many of her male friends to see how it affects flies. No kidding
Step one involved using the body spray in food the flies ate. All died. Except one group that hadn’t been exposed to the spray. Step two is putting the spray on cotton balls to determine whether just being around the spray will affect them when they’re not ingesting it.
Meanwhile, her classmate, Emily Strauss, 14, is exploring chlorophyll levels in plants to determine if her theory is correct — that plants thriving in sunshine have more chlorophyll than those that are shaded. Her next step is to use a spectrometer in the classroom to explore how much chlorophyll exists in each type of plant.
A legacy of scientific thinking
Both students are among those in grades seven through 12 who will be competing in the 50th Anniversary Science Fair on December 5, an annual meeting of young minds started by teacher Gene P. Kinghan in 1964.
Roger Smith took the helm after Mr. Kinghan, directing the program from 1984 to 2003, according to current Science Fair coordinator Sharon Gibbs. Mr. Smith was her mentor, Ms. Gibbs added, sparking her interest in science that led her to SUNY Cortland where she developed a passion for geology.
Ms. Gibbs along with teachers Daniel Williams and Brittney Bothwell will be honoring the two men who inaugurated the event continued to encourage staff members to urge students to think like scientists.
The competitors, from grades seven through 12, bring various levels of sophistication and knowledge to their projects, Ms. Gibbs said.
The junior division of students in grades seven and eight are required to enter the Science Fair. Older students don’t have to participate, but often get hooked on science and choose to continue, Ms. Gibbs said.
Student projects have become increasingly sophisticated, Ms. Gibbs said. What attracted her to her career in science is what she passes on to her students — the life skills involved in organizing and presenting information in a logical way.
Today’s Island students are working with professionals — some retired, others still active — from Plum Island, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, The Nature Conservancy and the Peconic Estuary, the Group for the East End and local physicians.
Learning how to think
About 70 students are participating in this year’s Science Fair. Their work began at the start of the school year when they were challenged to research areas that might inspire long-term projects. At the outset, students developed hypotheses and methods to test their theories, researching subjects and developing bibliographies to back up their scientific investigations. In science, there is no right or wrong, Ms. Gibbs teaches. There is simply data that comes from experimentation that supports or fails to support the original hypothesis.
As they zeroed in on their projects — and no two students pursue the same one — they began to also find the best way to present their research through physical presentations that will be on display at the Science Fair.
Science is an outdoor education, Ms. Gibbs said and so students and members of the school’s science club learn not only by sitting in a classroom and reading about theories. She and the other science teachers give their students opportunities to leave the classroom and take advantage of the natural resources at Mashomack Preserve, Sylvester Manor, numerous Island waterways and off-Island sites such as BNL, to touch, take samples and explore plants, marine life, soil and rocks and other natural materials.
At BNL, they’re exposed to sophisticated machinery and, increasingly, their teachers are providing labs at the school with equipment that could place the district in the forefront of what’s being done on other high school campuses.
Priorities
In October, Mr. Williams asked the Board of Education to consider an investment in an $8,000 piece of equipment — the nano spectrophotometer — enabling students to analyze DNA samples. This machine is one the students use about at BNL. But having their own equipment on the Island would allow them to test theories on an ongoing basis.
Colleges often have such equipment, but high schools typically don’t because of the expense, Mr. Williams said.
His presentation was compelling enough to elicit a promise from Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik that the equipment would be included in his 2015-16 school year budget.
“We’ll make it a high priority,” Board President Stephen Gessner said.
As for this year’s Science Fair competitors, the top 10 in each division will be eligible to compete with students from other districts in the Science Teachers Association of New York State and the Long Island Science competition.
At the local level, competitors will qualify for various awards worth more than $800 that are made available through the support of merchants and others on the Island, Ms. Gibbs said.
As for the role of teachers, they serve as mentors and advisers to the students, but can’t actively help them develop their projects or presentations.
“Sometimes, kids who struggle in the classroom day to day, really shine in developing their Science Fair projects,” Ms. Gibbs said.
The Science Fair starts at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, December 5, with awards to be given out about 7 p.m.
