Saturday, June 20, 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

South Florida Science Museum Summer 2009

SUMMER EXHIBITION – AMAZING FEATS OF AGING through August 23

Explore the mysteries of why and how animals, including humans, age at Amazing Feats of Aging, a new interactive exhibition. With more than 20 hands-on exhibits, visitors will marvel as a computer instantly ages their face 25 years, learn how scientists can dramatically increase the life span of certain animal species, and discover how anyone can slow down the aging process.

HEALTH EXPO July 26, noon – 4pm

In collaboration with our new Amazing Feats of Aging exhibition, this event features several community partners to bring you healthy alternatives to living. Come and experience healthy cooking demonstrations, personal massages, raffles, fun family activities to help engage the family in healthy life choices, and more! Scouts can earn an Amazing Feats of Aging patch by visiting the Museum and participating in health-related experiments and activities.

SENIOR SCIENCE DAY August 18, 10am – 5pm

Visitors aged 62 and better receive free admission on this fun day of interactive activities, guest lectures and an opportunity to see Amazing Feats of Aging before it closes.

FALL EXHIBITION – K’NEX: BUILDING THRILL RIDES opening September 5

Explore the science, math & technology behind hair-raising amusement park thrill rides! Display models are made solely from K’NEX Rods and Connectors, and range from a roller coaster measuring over 10 feet long to a 6 foot tall Ferris wheel. The exhibition also includes building areas and hands-on experiments that let visitors explore various forces, forms of energy, and types of motion.

For more information or to register, visit: http://www.sfsm.org/ or call (561) 832-1988.

From Seminole Ridge High to Saturn 2: CSfaD Spring 2009 Essay Contest Winners

Cassini Outreach has released the names of the Cassini Scientist for a Day Spring 2009 Essay Contest winners. And the winners are:.

Grade 9-12 Category Winners:

Katherine McCarthy, a 12th grade student at Seminole Ridge Community High School in Loxahatchee, FL, for her essay on Dione.
Chelsea Kraynak, a 10th grade student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD, for her essay on Prometheus and Saturn¹s Rings.
Anthony Bass, an 11th grade student at Seminole Ridge Community High School in Loxahatchee, FL, for his essay on Janus and Epimetheus.

Congratulations to all of the contest winners, as well as to the finalists and to all of the students who took the time and effort to research and write about Saturn¹s moons for this contest.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

From Seminole Ridge High to Saturn: Student Semi-Finalists in NASA Contests

Seminole Ridge High School Science teacher Erich Landstrom received out-of-this-world congratulations in May. NASA emailed to say that his physics students in a national contest for an interplanetary mission were semi-finalists. At least one of his students’ essays passed the first round of selection in the Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest, and they were invited in June to teleconference with scientists studying the planet Saturn remotely by robotic spacecraft.

The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest challenges students to become NASA scientists studying the planet Saturn. Participants examine three target images taken by Cassini and choose the one they think will yield the best science. This choice must then be supported in a 500-word essay.

Mr. Landstrom used it as teaching opportunity for his students to practice their FCAT Writes persuasive essay skills, and encourage excellence in FCAT Science. Juniors Anthony Bass, Alex Cohen, Kris Hansen, and Jessie Twigger are now invited to teleconference with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Using the Distance Learning Classroom in Seminole Ridge’s Biotechology Academy, they can participate in a scientific debate by deciding which imaging target brings the most scientifically interesting results.

Jessie Twigger in his essay wrote in part, “Not every satellite we launch or every telescope we point towards the sky is searching for another Earth but if the chance to learn more about Earth-like planets presents itself, why not seize this opportunity? That is the reason we should be photographing Dione. No – that that is the reason we should be exploring space. Dione is worth all its scientific merit just for the smallest chance that we will discover something that we never even dreamed possible, just for the shear enjoyment of discovering that a distant moon is similar to Earth, and most importantly just for the challenge it presents in understanding such a mystery.”

All semi-finalists’ essays are now being judged to determine the overall contest winners. Winners will be announced in mid June, after the end of the school year for Seminole Ridge. Please visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov to see the winners list online when it becomes available

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cameras on NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission have been taking stunning images of Saturn and its rings and moons for the past five years. These images have helped planetary scientists learn more about this amazing planet Saturn. For most of its tour, Cassini has a chance to point its cameras at various targets, but only one image can be taken at a time. Before each imaging opportunity, Cassini scientists have to decide which image they think would yield the best science. They make a case for specific images, and debate why one image would be better than another. Finally, they agree on which image will be taken. The command to take the image is uplinked to the spacecraft. The image is downlinked to Earth, a billion kilometers away.

In the Cassini Scientist for a Day contest, students get to be the scientists. Seminole Ridge High School physics students learned about possible images that the cameras on Cassini could take on May 25, 2009. Students needed to weigh all the factors and choose one of the targets. What do we already know about Saturn, its rings, and its moons? What do we hope to learn from the image selected? The decision is based on which image would yield the most scientific results, but the artistic value of the image can be an added bonus.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Bank of America Selects Hawk Student Leader

Kristina DeCarlo controls the VEX protobot during ELEVATION practice
Seminole Ridge High School junior and SECME student Kristina DeCarlo (photo, left) has been selected as a "2009 Bank of America Student Leader" for Palm Beach County. Locally, DeCarlo will participate in an eight-week paid internship at Communities in Schools, located in West Palm Beach. Nationally, she will take part in an all-expense paid week in Washington, DC at B of A‘s Student Leadership Summit, conducted in partnership with the Close Up Foundation.

Held this year from July 19–24, the summit brings together hundreds of community-minded students from across the US and overseas. A spokeman for Bank of America commented, "This will be an outstanding opportunity for Kristina to learn how non-profits, government, and businesses partner to create a positive impact in our communities. Students develop and apply leadership skills through hands-on work experience, raising their awareness of the community issues addressed by their host organization."