May 17, 2007 — Interested in remote-controlled boats? DNA extraction? Web-page design? The magic in the number 9? Or sharks, cats and fluorescent bacteria? These were just a few of the myriad topics presented by local students Thursday at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center.
St. Thomas-St. John District public, private and parochial-school students displayed projects and performed live demonstrations at the 2007 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Fair.
Categories for the projects include: science experiment, science model/demonstration, engineering, math-real word problems, math abstract problems, individual and school web page, programming, desktop publishing and video presentations.
A video production called “Missing” was the result of six weeks of work by Gregg Farrington from All Saints School, utilizing sophisticated editing techniques as it reenacted the true story of a local girl who dropped out of school only to go missing. She was later found murdered.
One of the judges, UVI information systems professor Aurelia Donald, was impressed by Farrington’s production: “It was quite good, very powerful. I’m inspired to use my daughter’s Mac to try some of those things."
UVI professor of marine biology Stephen Ratchford, a six-time judge, explained the difference between demonstrations and experiments. “Experiments have to present a hypothesis, predictions, testing and conclusions," he said. "Demonstrations just need to show a phenomenon or concept, and they can be very entertaining.”
Seniors Mahlon Monsanta and Jacquel Dagou, both of whom will attend Florida’s Universal Technical Institute, built a remote-controlled boat capable of reaching speeds exceeding 40 miles per hour. They proudly show a video of the boat in action, and admitted that they were overjoyed at the success of the first boat they had ever built.
Latisha Blyden and Andretti Samuel from Charlotte Amalie High School created a model of all aspects of a wedding business, including video presentation, brochure, flyers and business cards.
The two were all smiles as they shared in presenting a well-rehearsed talk and presentation for the judges.
A display called “Can the rain wash away your tears?” explored the effect of rain on mood, and was the work of CAHS students Annette Collins and Vencia Smith. They asked people from ages 5 to 65 how weather affected feelings, and incorporated a study of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression associated with the cold, darkness and isolation of winter.
The projects came from all grade levels, kindergarten on up. Tiffany Smith, a fourth grader at Yvonne E. Milliner-Bowsky School, offered a presentation called “How do jet engines work?” Daniel Robles’ "Magical Nine" various aspects of the number nine. “A cat has nine lives and social security numbers and zip codes both have nine numbers,” he said. He explained the derivation and what it meant to be on “Cloud Nine.”
UVI biology professor Alice Stanford, who has been a judge six times, was impressed by the improvement in hypothesis presentation and data collection. “It shows that their teachers are learning, too, by observing the projects over the years," she said. "They are teaching them the proper methods for presenting scientific research, and it really shows.”
Technology projects were judged from 9 to 11 a.m. and science, engineering and math projects from 1 to 2 p.m.
All the projects will be open to public viewing on Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, and prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place at 1 p.m.
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