Story last updated at 3/10/2010 - 11:52 am
Juneau students attending colleges and universities all over the world report back that the preparation they received in the classroom of Juneau-Douglas High School (JDHS) science teacher Jon Smith placed them at the head of their classes. They say that the rigorous and sometimes difficult courses he teaches are so current and complete that they are conversant with the most cutting edge concepts and techniques offered in their classes, while students from other schools are struggling.
For the last several weeks, Smith's focus has been on the Southeast Alaska Regional Science Fair. It's an annual rite of passage for many aspiring scientists, and an arduous but rewarding time for organizers and volunteers. So says fair director Koren Bosworth, along with NOAA scientists Lawrence Schaufler, Bonita Nelson and Ron Heintz, and a cadre of volunteer parents and friends of science education. This year, students from Thunder Mountain High School, Sitka's Mt Edgecumbe, and Skagway will join JDHS.
The fair was started by Bill Leighty and Susan Waterhouse to promote science education in local schools. This fascinating and fun competition for six places in the national fair has morphed into a multidisciplinary extravaganza that fills the gym at Marie Drake with eager, well-informed young scientists. It allows a student from Southeast Alaska's Mt. Edgecumbe to compete nose-to-nose with someone from an upscale prep school located in the heart of academia, and if they're good enough, they can win. Last year students from JDHS made it all the way, competing in the international event in Stockholm, Sweden.
It's like a Frank Capra movie: a visitor wanders the hall and each student is standing by a poster and display of the project they've sweated over for the last three months. Some are obviously exploring the world of investigative science for the first time, some for the only time, and some are clearly already well on their way to the career they dream of.
Smith has developed a step-by-step series of measuring points at which the students display their progress, right up to the night before the big show. Some love it, some fear it, but none will forget their experience of big time science.
There are always projects relating to fish genetics, snow behavior, glacial rebound, mine tailing residue, stream and river dynamics and all the other physical science aspects of our Alaskan location. There are also projects more universal in their applications, such as color perception, memory qualities, social choices, seed germination requirements, bullet trajectories, chemical reaction speeds, insect life cycle manipulation, and material science questions.
Each project is a collaboration between a student or group of students with a mentor. Our population is filled with well educated and caring investigators who devote hours of their time each year to helping the student scientists choose, develop, investigate and publish their projects.
The next phase is the fair itself, and the judging of the projects, which draws on the combined talents of teachers, researchers, managers, private professional practitioners, business owners and interested amateurs. The projects deemed most worthy then get another serious evaluation resulting in six that go on to the national competition, the INTEL Science Fair, this year in San Jose, Calif.
The awards and a review of the fair are given at the University of Alaska Southeast Egan Library the Sunday evening after the fair. It is an occasion of hijinks and hilarity and an opportunity for many community, state and national groups to participate by awarding specific prizes to projects they support. Mining engineers, wildlife biologists, social scientists, seafood harvesters, weather predictors and local businesses all step up and reward the competitors with scholarships, cash awards, tools and trips to recognize their accomplishments.
The Southeast Regional Science Fair will be held March 12-14. A donation of Alaska Airlines frequent flyer mileage will help send the winners to the INTEL national competition. Donations can be sent to SE Alaska Regional Science Fair, 165 Behrends Ave, Juneau, AK 99801.
