Maggots or sheeps’ eyes? Ladies’ choice

A free science symposium gives about 250 girls a chance to get down and dirty with career options

The maggots were dead, which was a bit of a disappointment. "It would have been more fun if they were alive, but we will take what we can get," said 10-year-old Megan Dalmacio, of Holomua Elementary School.

"I saw maggots alive in my yard on a dead pig," said 13-year-old Gabrielle Gualano, a student at the University of Hawaii Lab School, with wholehearted enthusiasm. "They were wiggling all over the place. I really wish we were working with live maggots."

Squeamish? Not the potential scientists who selected M. Lee Goff's workshop, "Maggots: Friends Not Foes!" at Saturday's Science Symposium for Girls. They showed a fine appreciation for the slimy and unusual.

"I liked touching them -- they were hard and kinda gooey," said Sacred Hearts Academy student Jillian Anderson, 10, of the maggots.

Sacred Hearts hosted the free science symposium for girls in grades 5 to 8. About 250 attended, choosing from among 21 sessions designed to educate girls on careers available in areas of math, science and technology.

Goff used his session to explain how insects are used in forensics -- a lesson summarized by Lindsay Peace, 12, another Sacred Hearts student: "You can actually figure out about how long ago a person died by measuring bugs and maggots."

Goff, chairman of the Forensic Science Program at Chaminade University, noted a welcome influx of women in the forensics program at Chaminade. "About 85 to 90 percent of students in the program are now women," he said.

Saturday's sessions included talks and interactive activities on topics from robotics and animals to medicine and DNA.

Jennifer Porter, a science teacher at Sacred Hearts, showed a group of girls how to dissect a sheep's eye in the "Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder" workshop. Participants donned goggles and gloves as they carefully cut into the eye, hoping to avoid squirting liquid. Porter discussed the eye parts as the girls cut around the cornea to get an up-close and personal view of the iris.

In the "Do the Robotics Bot Dance" session, Jodi Quon, a 14-year-old member of the Sacred Hearts robotics team, talked about downloading information into a device that creates robots that can talk and dance. The girls learned some computer programming and ended with a robot dance party featuring the tune "Mr. Roboto."

In another classroom, Dr. Joe Laszio presented "Forces in Balance," using wire and tennis balls to help students create an "M gadget" that balanced nicely on their fingertips and heads.

Wearing his own gadget on his head, Laszio said, "I always tell people if they are sad and lonely, they can be the center of their own universe."