Trio, & A Pun, Prevail At Science Fair

Are most cats right-pawed, just as a majority of humans prefer to write, throw and do complex tasks with their right hands? Natalie DiMario, 11, a fifth-grader at Bishop Woods School, remembers seeing that question raised a while back on television.

She said that the idea stuck in her mind and that she planned to conduct an experiment if she ever had to come up with a science fair project.
That’s what happened, and the rest is history.

Thursday evening DiMario, and classmates Briana Butler, 11, and Janae McMillan, 10 (they’re pictured from left to right), won first place in the fifth-grade biology team project category at the awards ceremony of the 2009 New Haven Science Fair.

Their research presentation: ​“The Cat ​‘Paw’ Ject.”

No rule against puns at the science fair.

Every student in the science fair, from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, won a trophy during ceremonies Thursday at Yale’s Sheffield Sterling Strathcona Hall. Either honorable mention, or third, second or first place.

Michael Morand, associate vice president in the Office of New Haven and State Affairs at Yale, offered words of encouragement to the already boisterous crowd of students, parents, and teachers.

Few high school athletes make it to the major leagues, he said. ​“All of you have a future in science. And science is at the heart of the economy in New Haven.”

Natalie, Briana and Janae all said they would like to become veterinarians, or work with animals.

They’d also like to determine whether the subject cats were responding to the cat nip, or the play mouse, that the felines were encouraged to bat around.

There’s always next year. By the way, the cats did not seem to show a dominant paw.

The science fair, sponsored by Yale, the Science Park Development Corporation, Sigma Xi, Fusco Corporation, and other organizations, and administered by the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, encompassed about 200 projects.

They ranged from studies of paper airplane design, to electromagnetism, bacteriology, and environmental issues, to ants, tooth decay, and purifying muddy water.

A particularly intriguing project from East Rock School suggested that students chewing gum out-performed non-chewers on a test. Why? Students hypothesized that chewing increases blood flow to the brain — hence, clearer thinking.

So if the results are born out the bane of teachers may some day become a required school supply. Pencils, paper, protractor, Juicy Fruit.

Richard Therrien, kindergarten through 12th grade science supervisor in the New Haven Public Schools, said he was impressed this year by the environmental subjects that students selected: fuel cells, biofuels, recycling ​“gray” water, and the amount of paper waste produced in an average class.

During judging on Wednesday, students were required to explain their projects to a range of potentially intimidating scientists and engineers.

The idea was to determine whether the students were simply following an experimental cookbook, or whether they truly understood what they were doing, said one of the judges, Chris Willems, who teaches biology at Wilbur Cross High School.

“The goal is to help the students understand the process of science,” he said. Observing, questioning, coming up with a hypothesis to explain what was observed, and then an experiment to test the hypothesis is the basic route.

Willems said he was surprised to find out from a project that a dog’s mouth has fewer bacteria than human mouths of smokers and non-smokers.

“We want to highlight the kids and make them feel important for what they did,” said another judge, Martin Torresquintero, outdoor adventure coordinator for the New Haven Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees.

Some pre-kindergarteners were kissing their trophies Thursday evening. Older students refrained from overt idolatry.

Three second-graders performed a crystal growing experiment in class. Their teacher, Thomas E. Holmes, said he was impressed that the kids figured out that the first batch of water was not hot enough to dissolve sugar.

They tried again with warmer water and produced a giant sugar crystal.

“Sweet Sugar Crystals” won Pablo Sanchez Levallois, 8, Teresa Tamborra-Walton, 7, and Evy Hill, 8, third place in second grade physical science.

All agreed that the project was fun. And every one plans to be a scientist. At least for now.