A total of 260 middle and high school students participated in the 9th annual DMPS Science Fair, held at the Science Center of Iowa, up from 230 just one year ago.

The 10th annual DMPS District Science Fair took over the Science Center of Iowa Thursday night. At first glance, it could have been any of the others. But research revealed some groundbreaking projects. That aspect, too, was in common with all of the previous nine.

For instance:

• In the midst of a bleak midwinter week, what a ray of sunshine was Merrill 7th grader Carl Tubbs’s exhibit Taking the Sting Out of the Swing, a quest for the sweet spot on the barrel of a baseball bat. Once pinpointed, Carl noted, “the trick is to make contact. I’ll be in the majors this year and some of the pitchers there throw in the 70s.” Good luck – and play ball!
• Fraternal twins Heather and Jordan Creek, 7th graders at Brody, have felt all their lives that there’s some paranormal connection between them not usually found between siblings. Twin Telepathy sought to empirically prove the existence of a phenomenon they’ve always sensed. Alas, their hypothesis was not borne out by their experiments – yet. Heather suggested that maybe the methodology was flawed. Wait ‘til next year!
• The high school division is mostly serious business. There were plenty of delves into equine fossils and the most effective ways and means of killing bacteria, among lots of other research foci. But a pair of snickering seniors from Roosevelt/Central Academy took a refreshing, and clever, walk on the lighter side of science.Dadbot detailed Luke Whitman’s and Nathan Bui’s development of an algorithm that simulates the lame but persistent senses of humor typically displayed by fathers. They tapped into a database of “dad jokes” and equipped Dadbot with quips for any situation. “Can I go to the gym?” a kid might ask. “I don’t know, can you?” deadpanned Dadbot. He’s “got a million of ‘em,” give or take. Okay, kidding aside, can AI really replace your dad? “Only in the sense of humor department – maybe,” said Luke.

In the high school division alone, 67% of the young scientists who presented their work were female.

The Science Fair is sponsored every year by the DMPS Foundation, to the tune so far of nearly $50,000 and impacting 7,000 students. And according to the district’s Science Curriculum Coordinator Adam Puderbaugh, participation numbers continued to climb this year.

“Overall entries were up 51%,” he said, “and the high school division, which wasn’t added until 2014, drew 72 projects. Many of those entrants are partnering with actual research institutions.”

This year’s event had a total of 260 participants, up from 230 a year ago. And at a time when national attention has been given to the relatively low number of young women pursing STEM-related majors in college, that hurdle is being cleared at DMPS. In the high school division, 67% of the exhibitors were female.

More than 40 judges from area think tanks like Dow-DuPont Pioneer, Des Moines University, the US Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University shared the difficult task of sifting the scientists and anointing winners who will advance to the statewide competition.

But somebody’s gotta do it and at the end of the night the results were announced (click here to download a PDF of the results or scroll to the bottom of the page for a list). Winners will go on to the State Science & Technology Fair at Iowa State University next month.

Photos of the 10th annual DMPS Science Fair

Results from the 10th annual DMPS Science Fair

6th GRADE

7th GRADE

8th GRADE

HIGH SCHOOL