Problems and solutions, a surplus of one not enough of the other — this is what science is all about.
A contingent of Wellington Middle School students is working to find various solutions to different problems that help better the community.
Four groups of middle school students are participating in eCyber Mission, a web site that allows students grades six through nine from all across the nation to compete in the categories of science, technology, engineering and math.
"Basically they are free to choose any project they want," Sixth Grade Science Teacher Stephanie Smith said. "But it has to better the community, the goal is to better the community..."
There are 11 students who are taking part in the contest. On one team, two eighth graders Brooke Tracy and Elizabeth Whaley are aiming to help save the lives of animals in the community, teacher Cindy Tracy explains.
"They are trying to keep animals from being euphonized and trying to find them other homes to help the animals in the community," Tracy said. "One of the girls volunteers at one of the animal clinics and that's where she got her idea from."
The eighth graders have been speaking with local vets and doing research on the Internet for their project.
Sixth graders Tegan Bucher and Jaylynn Luna make up a group that is researching the utilization of renewable energy in the classroom. For their project, they have constructed a model of how a school could use solar and wind energy to power classrooms.
"We wanted to do something with the environment but also that would be fun," said Bucher. "It's really fun. We're having a really good time making this little model of a little class room."
The model needs a few more adjustments before it is complete, but the girls have high hopes from their project when all is said and done.
"We're trying to see if we can just build a model and then people can actually make the real thing," Luna said yesterday morning.
All of these projects are worked on outside of school hours. Generally the students arrive at the school early and some work on their projects after the final bell rings.
The team of Madison Adams, Kennedy Hackerott and Allison McCue are working on an idea they came up with called Community Buddies. The group ventures out with elementary school students once every week to local nursing homes to spend time with the residents.
"We play games with them," Adams said. "We play Wii, Sorry, and Uno..."
This group is trying to drive home the point that by interacting people it raises spirits. They would also like to show the value of volunteering to the elementary students. Their on-going data collection so far has supported their idea. They have been working on their project for about three weeks.
"The people at the nursing home, they really like us coming," Adams said. "They ask when we're going to come next and stuff."
Adams demonstrated and explained what the students fill out on the eCyber Mission website. They state what the problem is, then their hypothesis, test and draw a conclusion. Students also have to explain how the team worked before they submit their findings. The deadline for the eCyber Mission is Feb. 26 but the Community Buddies group says they would like to continue their visits even after that date has passed.
The other two groups weren't at the middle school yesterday but Smith was able to give some insight.
Ryleigh Buck, Alexis Hinman and Dietra Sober make up another sixth grade team, their focus is on recycling. The groups sent out letters for 50 homes around the neighborhood saying the students would pick up their recyclable items and take it to the recycling center for the citizens.
"A lot of people that are elderly, and people that work all the time are not able to make it to the recycling center," Smith said. "So this helps."
She said the group is still in the process of collecting data is gearing up to send another batch of letters more houses.
"They did a test data of one area and now they're choosing a different area with different demographics and they're kind of comparing, does it help to have transportation available..." Smith said.
Wednesdays the group uses a truck to pick up the items .
"That is the issue, did they see a rise in recycling since they've been doing this." These projects may be a part of a contest but with the hard work of these Wellington students everyone wins.
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Problems and solutions, a surplus of one not enough of the other — this is what science is all about.
A contingent of Wellington Middle School students is working to find various solutions to different problems that help better the community.
Four groups of middle school students are participating in eCyber Mission, a web site that allows students grades six through nine from all across the nation to compete in the categories of science, technology, engineering and math.
"Basically they are free to choose any project they want," Sixth Grade Science Teacher Stephanie Smith said. "But it has to better the community, the goal is to better the community..."
There are 11 students who are taking part in the contest. On one team, two eighth graders Brooke Tracy and Elizabeth Whaley are aiming to help save the lives of animals in the community, teacher Cindy Tracy explains.
"They are trying to keep animals from being euphonized and trying to find them other homes to help the animals in the community," Tracy said. "One of the girls volunteers at one of the animal clinics and that's where she got her idea from."
The eighth graders have been speaking with local vets and doing research on the Internet for their project.
Sixth graders Tegan Bucher and Jaylynn Luna make up a group that is researching the utilization of renewable energy in the classroom. For their project, they have constructed a model of how a school could use solar and wind energy to power classrooms.
"We wanted to do something with the environment but also that would be fun," said Bucher. "It's really fun. We're having a really good time making this little model of a little class room."
The model needs a few more adjustments before it is complete, but the girls have high hopes from their project when all is said and done.
"We're trying to see if we can just build a model and then people can actually make the real thing," Luna said yesterday morning.
All of these projects are worked on outside of school hours. Generally the students arrive at the school early and some work on their projects after the final bell rings.
The team of Madison Adams, Kennedy Hackerott and Allison McCue are working on an idea they came up with called Community Buddies. The group ventures out with elementary school students once every week to local nursing homes to spend time with the residents.
"We play games with them," Adams said. "We play Wii, Sorry, and Uno..."
This group is trying to drive home the point that by interacting people it raises spirits. They would also like to show the value of volunteering to the elementary students. Their on-going data collection so far has supported their idea. They have been working on their project for about three weeks.
"The people at the nursing home, they really like us coming," Adams said. "They ask when we're going to come next and stuff."
Adams demonstrated and explained what the students fill out on the eCyber Mission website. They state what the problem is, then their hypothesis, test and draw a conclusion. Students also have to explain how the team worked before they submit their findings. The deadline for the eCyber Mission is Feb. 26 but the Community Buddies group says they would like to continue their visits even after that date has passed.
The other two groups weren't at the middle school yesterday but Smith was able to give some insight.
Ryleigh Buck, Alexis Hinman and Dietra Sober make up another sixth grade team, their focus is on recycling. The groups sent out letters for 50 homes around the neighborhood saying the students would pick up their recyclable items and take it to the recycling center for the citizens.
"A lot of people that are elderly, and people that work all the time are not able to make it to the recycling center," Smith said. "So this helps."
She said the group is still in the process of collecting data is gearing up to send another batch of letters more houses.
"They did a test data of one area and now they're choosing a different area with different demographics and they're kind of comparing, does it help to have transportation available..." Smith said.
Wednesdays the group uses a truck to pick up the items .
"That is the issue, did they see a rise in recycling since they've been doing this." These projects may be a part of a contest but with the hard work of these Wellington students everyone wins.
