Students win scholarships at Science Symposium

Twelve students competed Friday for the chance to win a scholarship by presenting the results of science experiments in front of a panel of judges and their peers.

The second annual Inland Northwest High School Science Symposium was held at the Riverpoint campus of Eastern Washington University and Washington State University.

Students from Riverside, North Central, Odessa, Cheney and Whitefish (Mont.) high schools presented papers at the symposium that discussed how to scientifically discover the answer to a question.

“(I’m looking for) students who understand the scientific method and how to apply it,” said judge Stephen Hayes, an adjunct faculty member in the EWU biology department.

Hayes described the scientific method as first making an observation: the student will notice something and become interested in it.

The second step is to find out what others have learned about the subject and to study published literature pertaining to the subject.

The third step is to come up with an explanation as to why what they observe does what it does. Hayes said that the explanation could be right or it could be wrong. In fact, when the explanation is wrong, it helps the student with further study.

Then, the student tests the explanation by experimentation.

Hayes added that one of the most important aspects he was looking for at the symposium is whether the student is really interested in the subject they are presenting.

And the list of subjects is as diverse as the students presenting them.

One student compared crested wheatgrass and soft white winter wheat in annually cultivated soil and uncultivated soil. Another looked at the long-term effects of space radiation on tomato seeds.

The symposium was organized by Tom Stralser, a biology professor at Cheney High School. Stralser modeled the event after a similar annual competition held in Alaska.

Students competing have the opportunity to win scholarships from EWU, the University of Idaho, Washington State University and Whitworth University. They also get their papers published in the symposium book, as well as gain the experience of presenting a paper – something that will help them if they continue to study science in college.