CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kaley Tengan, a fifth-grader at Trinity Christian School, took notes yesterday at the 47th Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair held at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. Tengan and her peers took interest in Brialan H. Howell's engineering science project called "The Strength of Thread," which compared four brands of cotton sewing thread for strength.
Students share
scientific studiesThe annual Science Fair has displays
from 384 students statewide
Sixth-graders Haley Sherrill and Emily Mobley were fascinated to learn how different types of music affect the behavior of dogs.
The Le Jardin Windward Oahu Academy students were among hundreds of private and public school students visiting the 47th Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair yesterday at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.
Most took notes on exhibits to report back to their classes.
Sherrill and Mobley said they liked a display by Highlands Intermediate seventh-grader Erika Pascual because it was eye-catching and easy to understand.
"Some of the other ones were confusing," Mobley said.
Pascual's tests showed dogs are calmer listening to religious, Japanese or classical music, but they are most happy and playful when "alternative" music is played, Sherrill said.
The fair opened Monday with 329 science projects exhibited by 384 sixth- to 12th-graders at 72 schools statewide. It is sponsored by the Hawaii Academy of Science with the state Department of Education, University of Hawaii-Manoa and its College of Education.
"It's fabulous -- the amount of information they get and how they present it," said Vicky Shinbo, who took her son Marcus to the fair so he could get ideas about how the projects are done.
A fifth-grader at Kaimuki Christian School, he is thinking of building some kind of car in a "wheel and axle" project due next month, she said.
More than 250 judges from the academy and other organizations, businesses and educational facilities evaluated the state fair entries for 460 awards.
Winners of the state competition and the Maui, Windward and Leeward district fairs will represent Hawaii at the International Science and Engineering Fair May 9-15 in Portland, Ore.
Jonathan Somaoang, who has an art gallery in the Lahaina Cannery Mall and was a judge for the Maui District Science Fair, was intrigued with the students' technical expertise and interest in water quality and other environmental issues.
He said it's great that kids are getting more concerned about the environment.
Among the many complex exhibits was "Artificial Visual Perception: An Integrated Approach to Neuroadaptive Modeling" by 11th-grader Kimberly Reinhold, of St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School on the Big Island.
On the practical side, St. Patrick School eighth-grader Christopher Lam tested compact fluorescent lamps to see how much energy they would save.
He said the results exceeded his expectations, saving more than 95 percent in energy costs, "so the bill from Hawaiian Electric will go down."
"Pop Goes the Soda" was Kapolei Middle School seventh-grader Taylor Coduti's exhibit. He did a series of experiments that proved his theory Coca-Cola would explode before four other types of soda when frozen because "it has the most fizz, which equates to the most CO2."
Major winners at the Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair:
>> Big Island student Kimberly Reinhold captured the top senior research award for the third year. The St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School 11th-grader expanded on her winning exhibit last year with a more sophisticated project entitled "Artificial Visual Perception: An Integrated Approach to Neuroadaptive Modeling.">> Philip Mocz, Mililani Middle School eighth-grader, took first place in the junior research division. His Earth and space science project was "Obtaining Details in Astronomical Images of the Full Moon with Color Filters."
