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HS Teacher Workshops |
PJAS is a statewide organization of students interested in furthering their understanding of the sciences by developing and implementing research projects. Using the scientific method, students design protocols to test their proposed hypothesis, then present their data and conclusions as a ten-minute oral presentation with transparencies. Presentations are scored using a PJAS rubric on the criteria of scientific thought, experimental methods, analytical approach, presentation, and judge's opinion. Students are awarded first, second, or third place, with first place awardees being eligible to attend the State Meeting. A number of organizations give special awards to students whose presentations are judged as being exceptional. For the seventh year, the Department of Biological Sciences sponsored two "Excellence in Biology" awards for outstanding presentations in the life sciences. Students entered in the biochemistry, biology, botany, ecology, microbiology, and zoology categories were eligible for the $75 awards, one for grades 9-12 and one for grades 7-8, based on high scores and judges' recommendations. Judging the 2007 Competition, Region 7 On Saturday, February 3, 2007, the Department of Biological Sciences was represented at the seventy-third annual Region 7 meeting of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) by three members of our Department: Director of Outreach Programs Dr. Alison Slinskey Legg, Gene Team Assistant Coordinator Brian DiRienzo, and Phage Hunter Coordinator Debbie Jacobs-Sera.
The winner of the "Excellence in Biology" award for grades 7-8 was Kevin Schorr, an 8th grader from Jefferson Middle School. His project entitled "Do You Remember?" allowed Kevin to determine if people can retain more items in their short-term memory if items are grouped in categories than when items are grouped randomly. He tested his hypothesis by giving subjects forty-five seconds to study a page with twelve pictures and forty-five seconds to list the items they remembered. Subjects in the experimental group received a randomly ordered form first followed by a grouped form. Control group subjects saw either two random or two grouped forms. It was shown that subjects were able to remember more items when the items were in grouped order rather than random order. Congratulations to the Region 7 "Excellence in Biology" Award winners for 2007, and good luck at the State Meeting in May! Judging the 2007 Competition, Region 9 For the second year in a row, the Department is proud to take part in the Region 9 PJAS competition. On Saturday, February 24, 2007, Director of Outreach Programs Dr. Alison Slinskey Legg was on hand to select two "Excellence in Biology" award winners.
The winner of the grades 7-8 "Excellence in Biology" award was 7th grader Connor Link, who was representing Freeport Junior High School. Connor's project, entitled "Which Weed Killer Negatively Affects the Respiration of Minnows the Least" was chosen for this award due to the outstanding experimental design employed as well as his presentation of the findings. In this project minnows were put into solutions of four different brands of weed killer, to see which brand of weed killer would negatively affect the minnows the least. For each weed killer a 1%, a 5%, and a 10% solution was prepared to be tested. Fifteen minnows' respiration were measured in each, plus the control solution of simple well water. The results showed that the the order of negative impact on the respiration of minnows from greatest to least was: Round-Up Ready-to Use, Roots and All Ultimate Grass and Weed Killer, Dexol-Spot Weeder, Ortho Weed-B-Gone, and well water (control group). Congratulations to the Region 9 "Excellence in Biology" Award winners for 2007, and good luck at the State Meeting in May! |
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