Projects at science fair turn attention to academics LIHU’E — After about a decade of limiting science fairs to individual schools, the Kaua’i School District held its 2001 Regional Science Fair last weekend at Kukui Grove Center. More than 40
Projects at science fair turn attention to academics
LIHU’E — After about a decade of limiting science fairs to individual schools, the Kaua’i School District held its 2001 Regional Science Fair last weekend at Kukui Grove Center.
More than 40 students — representing six public and private schools across the island — spent Saturday discussing their projects and receiving a variety of awards from benefactors ranging from the Discovery Channel to the Army.
The night before, the students were interviewed about their projects by 15 volunteer judges, but Saturday was their time to be recognized for their hard work and research, said Andy Snow, a science teacher at Kaua’i High School.
“They’re living in a world where a lot of recognition is given to sports rather than academics,” he said. “This gives them the exposure they need.”
And the young scientists got plenty of exposure as friends, family and other members of the community gathered around the shopping center’s stage to watch 22 prizes being doled out, including certificates, bronze medals and $200 cash.
Carol Shikata, school renewal specialist for the west side complex, said the district used to hold a regional competition, which then carried over to the state contest, but stopped doing so six or seven years ago.
But with the encouragement of district superintendent Daniel Hamada, Shikata coordinated the revival of the islandwide event, paving the way for the fair she said benefits the entire community as well as the students.
“This event has something for everyone,” she said. “Just look at the many different topics being researched.”
The diverse subjects covered in the projects made the walk through one of Kukui Grove’s empty suites an hour-long process, as students discussed everything from the movement of sunspots to the effect of light on caterpillars.
Evan Esaki, a seventh-grader at Kapa’a Middle School, used his project to determine if Kauai’s reservoirs could be used as an alternate energy source. Making a lifelike model out of foam and plastic, Esaki said the island’s reservoirs could prove as useful as dams.
Esaki said he enjoyed creating the model the most, but that demonstrating the results proved difficult for him.
“The project wasn’t really something you could graph out,” he said.
Kapa’a High sophomore Ricky Rodrick’s project, which analyzed a possible anti-aphid toxin in Zuuiki Taro plants, garnered him a bronze medal for the highest regional award of excellence from the Army.
Rodrick said he used various chemicals — and strengths of the toxins — to determine what killed the most aphids. Using a microscope, he was able to count the number of bugs killed in each trial, with the most being about 870.
“The microscope made it a lot easier to do,” he said. “And seeing that it helped the plants, it was a good project to do.”
In addition to the numerous awards given out to the students, the judges’ scores of the project were used to determine the winners of the junior and senior-division awards.
Junior Research Division Grand Awards recognized Chiefess Kamakahelei student Molly Zimmerman’s project on bacteria with first place, Esaki in second and Waimea Canyon’s Thad Fuji in third place.
The senior division awarded Kapa’a High students Whitney Haraguchi, Koa Yama and Tyson Wakayam with first for their project on the use of copper sulfate to control Golden Apple Snails in Hanalei Valley taro fields. Rodrick finished in second place, Kapa’a High’s Tara Bonilla third, Kaua’i High’s Ashlee Fujimoto fourth and Kapa’a High’s Jeremy Albano fifth.
The top three slots in the senior division also received invitations for the International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, Calif., May 5-12. A considerably larger number of Kaua’i students will have their projects taken to O’ahu in early April for the state’s science fair.
Snow said the science fair — in addition to the knowledge gleaned from the project — benefits the students by having them deal with various types of research, communication with judges and critical thinking skills, all of which are being encouraged in the schools of the 21st century.
“This is real learning,” he said. “They’re having to do things where the answer isn’t in the back of a book.”
Staff writer Matt Smylie can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226) and mailto:msmylie@pulitzer.net.
