Science Symposiaum at school.

Science and Math Symposium Involved Half the School

April 23, 2009 | On the day before the Annual Science and Math Symposium, students put finishing touches on posters and presentations, and astronomy teacher David Howell made a digital poster to advertise the event. According to biology teacher Ann-Marie White, "There will be more than a hundred posters and nearly two dozen presentations."

On the big day, articulate students took great care to explain their research in terms that everyone can understand--a good exercise in itself. Science and math at Deerfield is varied and exciting. Presentations included: Advanced Astronomical Image Processing, a baby bottle race in which students had to determine the amount of baking soda needed to propel a baby bottle thirty feet down in a water-filled trough., the possibilities of hydroponic agriculture, the impact of music on plant growth, systems for measuring battery power, solar projects, and more. This year there was a decided emphasis on projects that address environmental issues.

Math presentations included an investigation of prime numbers, The Seven bridges of Knowledge, a historical math problem, chaos theory, The Riemann Hypothesis, genetic algorithms and much more. Posters displayed methodology, but talking to students was the real pleasure of this event, as they untangled the terminology and explained the real-life applications of their research.