UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 27, Page 7
April 14, 1994
Symposium projects teach students scientific process

     Young scientists from Delaware high schools and their teachers
gathered in March at Clayton Hall for the annual two-day Delaware Junior
Science and Humanities Symposium, directed by Rivers Singleton, associate
professor of life and health sciences and director of the University's
Center for Science and Culture.
     The goal of the program is to promote study and experimentation at the
high school level in the sciences and to recognize the accomplishments of
students and their teachers. Students throughout the state and in
neighboring parts of Pennsylvania submitted research papers. The top five,
selected by a panel of judges, made presentations at the symposium.
     This year's winner was Stephen Wilson of Cape Henlopen High School,
whose topic was "A Study of Pig Growth in Light versus Darkness." Wilson
exposed 25 pigs to 13 hours of light and 25 pigs to 6 hours of light per
day for three weeks in equally heated pens with as much food as they
demanded. He discovered that those in the dark grew heavier than those
exposed to longer periods of light.
     Wilson, whose adviser and teacher was Gwyneth Sharp, will receive a
one-year scholarship to the University and will represent Delaware at the
national symposium held by North Carolina State University.
     The symposium runner-up is Sujata Bhatia of Christina High School,
whose topic was "A Study of Student Opinions of Recombinant DNA Research."
Harry Dillner is her adviser.
     Other finalists are Shalini H. Kurani, Cape Henlopen High School,
Sharp, teacher; Marc Matthews, Avon Grove High School, Joan Mackin,
teacher; and Trey Wallace, Smyrna High School, Amelia Quillen, teacher. All
the finalists will attend the national symposium.
     Other events included a poster contest, talks by Lt. Col. David W.
Harris, Army ROTC Program; Robin Morgan, animal science and agricultural
biochemistry; and Harold White, professor of chemistry and biochemistry;
plus visits with resident scholars and industrial tours.
     The symposium is sponsored by the College of Arts and Science and the
Center for Science and Culture; the Department of Public Instruction; the
Delaware Academy of Science; the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium of
the Academy of Applied Science in Raleigh, N.C.; and the U.S. Army Research
Office, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; with support from Delmarva Power &
Light Co., Diamond State Telephone, the DuPont Co., General Chemical, ICI
Americas Inc., Perdue Farms Inc. and Star Industries.

Portrait of a teacher
     Gwyneth Sharp, a biology teacher at Cape Henlopen High School, is a
strong supporter of the Delaware Junior Science and Humanities Symposium,
and has a winning way with student participants.
     For the past five years, three of her students have taken first-place
honors in the symposium. Last year's Delaware winner, Jarrod Millman, whose
topic was "Chaos and the Double-armed Pendulum," came in second place
nationally and attended the international symposium in London.
     In this year's competition, her student Stephen Wilson came in first
place while another student, Shalini Karani, is one of the five finalists.
Another student, Michelle Bland, won the poster contest at the symposium.
     A graduate of the University of California at San Diego with a
master's degree from the University of Delaware in secondary science
curriculum, Sharp says she "absolutely loves teaching." She gives full
credit to her students for their successes in the junior science symposium,
adding that the students' enthusiasm is contagious.
     Each spring, when students sign up for her honors biology class, she
meets with them and tells them that a class requirement is an independent
research project on a topic that interests them. "The project must be
'do-able,' and my role is to advise them. But, they must come up with a
topic," Sharp said.
     After a topic is approved, the student tries to prove a hypothesis
using scientific methods. Mistakes are fine and are learning experiences,
Sharp said. Throughout the year, the students meet with Sharp for guidance
and are required to meet deadlines. When the projects are completed, each
student gives an oral and written report, with the best projects submitted
to the Delaware Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.
     "Through 'think and do science,' students learn the scientific
process. The symposium provides an important focus for my class. It shows
students what they and their peers can accomplish and opens up vistas to
them through the different events," she said.
                                                  -Sue Swyers Moncure