Science Education News (SEN) Journal 2017 Volume 66 Number 4 December 2017 | Page 9

ASSOCIATION NEWS
2017 STANSW Young Scientist ISEF (continued)
Mary-Anne’s project looked at the distribution of the species in
relation to a creek and found out that it was elevation that greatly
affected where the native species were located. Her findings can
be used in regeneration projects, not only in Australia but all over
the world, and a lot of people are really excited in her findings.
Eleanor Lawton-Wade, PLC Sydney, In hot water
Sponsored Award: King Abdul-Aziz & his Companions
Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity Award
Eleanor’s project was a quantitative study of the effects of rising
freshwater temperatures on water chemistry and the productivity
and biomass of photosynthetic and respiratory processes.
Over a month she looked at two mesocosms, one at a baseline
temperature and one at a temperature which is the extrapolated
temperature in the next hundred years. Her results are a series
of chemical and biological samples to assess the impact of that
temperature rise as well as to develop a mathematical model that
projects what these changes mean in the long term.
Mary-Anne’s favourite part of her trip was going to the California
Science Centre, and seeing the actual Endeavour Space Shuttle
on display and hearing the story of one of the workers who helped
service it.
Rebekah Kang, PLC Sydney, Slick and Clean – An investigation
into how magnetite can be used with organic sorbents in oil
spill clean-up
3rd Place Grand Award: Environmental Engineering
Rebekah looked into how magnetite can be used with organic
adsorbent material in the oil spill clean-up process. Rebekah
sourced magnetite from a local beach. She simply ran a bar
magnet through the sand at Meadowbank Wharf and she then
sprinkled that magnetite over a mixture of oil and water. She had
a boom made out of vinyl, inside which she had six neodymium
magnets. The boom was wrapped in a controlled mass of a
hydrophobic organic solvent material.
The three different organic solvent materials that she tested were
human hair, feathers and straw. The magnetic boom was rolled
across a mixture of water, oil and magnetite. The magnetite and
the oil combined, forming a loose colloidal suspension. As the
boom was rolled across the surface of the mixture the magnetite
was drawn into the neodymium magnets in the boom and at the
same time the oil moved with the magnetite and so was adsorbed
by the organic adsorbent material surrounding the boom.
Eleanor’s favourite part of ISEF was just the people – “Science
just doesn’t operate in a laboratory, Science is about forming
relationships and about forming memories and that is what this
whole experience has been. It has been fun and it has been
serious, but it has been predominantly about people and how we
share ideas and share memories and I have loved every single
part of that.”
Maddison King, Meriden School, Clever GIRL (Global
Intelligent Rip Detector)
Maddison created the Clever GIRL. GIRL stands for Global
Intelligence Rip Locator and it is also called GIRL because
girls are cleverer than boys. So basically what happens when
a rip goes through the turbine, it spins faster. The turbine drives
a generator, calibrated such that a light switches on when the
water speed reaches 0.7 m/s. It uses basic physics principles
but it does make for an innovative product.
Maddison most enjoyed meeting so many people from all over
the world and she adds them onto social media so she can stay
in contact with them for ages.
Rebekah’s favourite memory of the trip involved one of the judging
sessions where she quoted a particular research study which
she referenced in her project; it happened to be the research
performed by that particular judge, which was really special for
both of them.
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 66 NO 4