Record Number of Students Take Part in DMPS Science Fair
A student explains her work to judges at the 2014 DMPS Science Fair, held February 13 at the Science Center of Iowa.
First it was the artists on parade at Capital Square from February 6-12. Then it was the scientists’ turn at, where else, the Science Center of Iowa on February 13.
Education, after all, is both art and science, and the best of both worlds at DMPS were on display in downtown Des Moines this week.
In this its sixth year, the science fair is not just for middle schools anymore.
In 2009 the event launched with 50 entrants. This year there were 205 entered projects, 65 of them in the newly added high school division. What accounts for the dramatic growth? Hmm – maybe that’s a topic for someone’s project in 2015.
The event program made plain in black and white how kids’ curiosities mature between grades six and 12 right along with the rest of their developing selves. For instance, one of the 6th grade topics, a very personally practical one, was What Beverage Best Cools Your Mouth After Eating Hot Salsa? Once that problem’s been solved maybe that budding scientist can move on to weightier conundrums such as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Found in Lung Cancer. You know how the band concerts change over the years? Same thing with science…
Roaming the exhibits one of the patterns that emerged was the ingenuity displayed in merging daily interest and activities with the temporary disciplines imposed by a focused science project. There was lots of research done on sports; basketball, volleyball, softball, you name it. And foods; soda pop and chewing gum, for instance, besides salsa. Ever wonder about the variables that impact the speed of rollercoasters? You shoulda been there.
“Ice in my Pipes” was a timely topic, given the record-breaking number of local water mains that have burst so far this winter.
You know you’re at a science fair when you see a man sporting an Albert Einstein/E=mc2 necktie. The young contestants dressed for the occasion, too. Once the judges had finished parading through and penciling their notes there were beanpoles in blazers walking about while munching bags of chips and young Madame Curies in scholarly black dresses and braces carrying their flats to relieve the sore feet they’d been fidgeting on while getting peppered with judges’ inquiries.
Speaking of judges, they were an assortment of practitioners in scientific disciplines from the community. In other words, they knew what to look for and how to rate what they saw on the rubric they were provided that included components like creative ability (science and art are one!), thoroughness, dramatic value, clarity (mumbo jumbo didn’t fly) and technical skill.
The space program from Callanan was represented. Now that this is out of the way those Science Bound cadets can get back to work on the launch later this semester of Weather Balloon II. They’re going places.
The Iowa Energy and Sustainability Academy was, too. And if that sounds like a source for judges, guess again. IESA is an already award-winning two-year curriculum at Central Campus that’s kicking out the kind of kids who are gonna restore the planet their ancestors fouled up.
The suspense got thicker than the atmosphere some of the projects had examined by the time DMPS Science Curriculum Coordinator Kim O’Donnell finally strode to the podium to announce the medalists who now advance to the state competition on March 28 at Hilton Coliseum on the campus of Iowa State University. But first she told the SRO crowd that there are multimillions of unfilled STEM jobs just waiting for qualified graduates to step up and do them.
“Judging by all that we see here tonight,” O’Donnell said, “I’d say we’re well on our way to getting those positions filled.”
The medalists were:
High School
Physical Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Names |
Project Title |
Place |
| 9 | Central | Nosa Ali & Shivani Kumeresan | What’s in Your Drink? |
1 |
|
11 |
Central | Camille Juarez | Green Laundry Detergents | 2 |
| 9 | North | Abby Espinosa-Gonzalez Bellolio | Plastic Transformation | 2 |
| 10 | Central | Erin Hammond, Jasmine Luangdetmalay, Ben Mueller | Types of Lights, A Comparison | 3 |
Life Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 12 | Central | Frankie Schulte | A Preliminary Description of Neuropil Distribution and Asymmetry in the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) | 1 |
| 9 | Central | Ankita Chatterjee | Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Found in Lung Cancer | 2 |
| 11 | Central | Andrea Squires | Listerine Extreme | 3 |
| 12 | Central | Annie Johnson | The Effects of Hand Sanitizer | 3 |
Earth Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 11 | Central | Keely Stagner, Brooke Oliveira | E Waste | 1 |
| 9 | Central | Cha White | Paper vs. Plastic Bags | 2 |
| 12 | Central | Allison Lumadue, Riley Dunlap | Water Quality | 3 |
8th grade
Physical Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 8 | Cowles | Bridget Easler, Maddie Johnston | Stop the Sound | 1 |
| 8 | Callanan | Nadine Veasley | The Acidity of Different Household Vinegars | 2 |
| 8 | Brody | Xavier Robles | The Effect of the Size of Bowls on the Collection of Water Evaporation | 3 (Tie) |
| 8 | McCombs | Miguel Vazquez | Bridge Design | 3 |
Life Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 8 | Merrill | Max Sanders | Shooting Spores | 1 |
| 8 | McCombs | Maria Cruz | Remembering Objects | 2 |
| 8 | Merrill | Sophia Gustafson | Compound vs. Natural | 3 |
Earth Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 8 | Brody | Leon Urias | Porosity and Permeability | 1 |
| 8 | Harding | Jonothan Prateusack | Astronomy | 2 |
7th Grade
Physical Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 7 | Brody | John Goode | The Effect of Roller Coaster Type on the Speed of the Car | 1 |
| 7 | Merrill | Faiza Naseer | Does Heat Affect the Frequency of Sound? | 2 |
| 7 | Brody | Natalie Worthington | The Effect of Insulation on Temperature | 3 |
Life Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 7 | Cowles | Chloe O’Connor | CONFORMITY | 1 |
| 7 | Merrill | Natalie Chartier | Golden Ratio | 2 |
| 7 | Merrill | Evelyn Nelson | How Young are Your Ears? | 3 (Tie) |
| 7 | Cowles | Louise Bequeaith | Antibiotic Resistance | 3 |
Earth Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 7 | Brody | Ashlyn Marie Miller | The Effect of Location on Contaminants in Des Moines Park Water | 1 |
| 7 | Merrill | Helena Anderson | Raccoon River Watershed: Is It Healthy? | 2 |
| 7 | Brody | Sam Berg | The Effect of Different Filters on the Cleanliness of Water | 3 |
6th Grade
Physical Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
|
6 |
Merrill | Ava Mason | Homemade Soda Pop | 1 |
|
6 |
Cowles | Risa Vandergrift | What’s In A Name? | 2 |
|
6 |
Merrill | Rezin Tempero | The Memory of a Character | 3 (Tie) |
|
6 |
Cowles | Gary McCall | Watch Out Below | 3 |
Life Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 6 | Cowles | Maddie Moody | Reaction Time | 1 |
| 6 | Merrill | Harrison Eckard-Garrett | Bird Seed Feed | 2 |
| 6 | Merrill | Luke Beeman | Selective Attention | 3 |
Earth Science
|
Grade |
School |
Student Name |
Project Title |
Place |
| 6 | Merrill | Aleck O’Brien | Nitrates in Our Water | 1 |
| 6 | Harding | Anastasia Billington, Kayden Watts | Volcanoes | 2 |
