Hi everyone.  I’m Peyton and I was so excited to be selected as the winner of the Super Stuff for Sports Challenge!   I am especially looking forward to meeting Dr. Savin in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.   I’m told he has a really amazing lab at the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials.   I want to be an engineer when I grow up, so I can’t wait to see it.

Hi.  Bart Hopkin sent me an activity to do with tin cans. Why tin cans? Because my musical instrument is spraying water into cans and cups so hitting is pretty much the same. What you do is you bang on a tin can and if you want to tune the cans, you can. If you want the sound to be higher then press down on the can with a hammer. If you want the sound to be lower then you should add some adhesive putty. To play it you should bang on it with a spoon, chopstick, or a pencil. I tried it out and it is SO fun. You should try it. If you have any more questions then you can ask them in the comment section, I can ask Bart the questions, then post the answers on my blog. Iam leaving tomorrow and you can catch my next post then. I am so excited!

Hi! I’m Merrie. I’m the Sensational Sounds winner and I’m meeting with Bart Hopkin in a week. I have many questions for him but I was wondering if you could send me your questions about sound and music. Icould ask him the questions then post the answers on my blog posts. I am leaving Williamstown, MA on Friday and you can  check back each day to catch my next posts. i\If you are reading this I’ll miss you Williamstown! Bye! Thank you!

Congratulations to Sona Dolasia for winning the Grand Prize for her entry in the Kids’ Science Challenge Magical Microbes category. Here’s her entry:

“One of major problems these days is that there is not enough fresh water in the world. Today we use desalination in some pats of the world to solve this problem, but it is super expensive and takes a long time. My idea of using a microbe called lithotrophs may not only work faster but it would also be cheaper, so every one could afford it. Lithotrophs are microbes that can eat the salts in stones and rocks. If we could modify these just like how scientists modified bactria to make ‘bacafilla’ (the new cement glue) to eat salts in the ocean instead. It may work. However, since we don’t know if they are harmful to humans we would need to test them, and if they are maybe find a way to either extract them or modify them to self destruct after their job is done. I would love to work with a scientist regarding this problem.”

Congratulations to Peyton Robertson for winning the Grand Prize for his entry in the Kids’ Science Challenge Super Stuff for Sports category. Here’s his entry:

“How does the temperature of the core of the golf ball affect the distance that the ball travels? My idea is to create a ball warmer which would keep the core of a golf ball warm. If players place their ball inside the warmer until they begin to play a hole, they would be able to hit the ball consistently in any temperature. I asked my Dad how golf balls are made. We cracked open a golf ball and then googled how golf balls are designed. Our research told us that, while some golf balls have two and others have three layers, all golf balls have a hard plastic outer shell and a rubber core. Next, I researched how temperature affects rubber. I learned that the rubber inside a golf ball allows the ball to “bounce” off of the golf club. Therefore, at impact, the ball has an elastic collision during which energy is transferred from the club to the ball. There is a second collision when the ball bounces on the ground. It seems that this kind of energy is called kinetic energy. Balls with warm cores have more bounce: they are more elastic. Balls with cold cores have less bounce: they are inelastic. Warm balls have a greater ability to flex during a collision with the club and there fore transfer more kinetic energy to the ball. The warmer the core, the more elastic it becomes, and the farther it travels when struck. I spoke with my science teacher, Mrs.Graf, about kinetic energy and my ideas about how to test my hypothesis. She helped me understand that I had to keep all of the variables constant in my experiment except for the temperature of the ball. My Dad helped me to put up our tallest ladder–10 feet– so the height was constant. We taped a tube to the ladder which allowed me to drop the ball the same speed every time-so the velocity was constant. Finally, we strapped a tape measure to the ladder to consistently measure the bounce. My dad and I called Callaway golf to ask if they could mail just the core of the ball, but they said they could not do that. So, we took some hedge trimmers and cut away the outer plastic covering from three Callaway golf balls. We heated one ball on the stove to 100 degrees F, cooled one ball in the freezer to 26 degrees F, and kept one ball at room temperature. I dropped each ball 10 times from the ladder. “

Congratulations to Merrie Benjamin for winning the Grand Prize for her entry in the Kids’ Science Challenge Sensational Sounds category. Here’s her entry:

My musical instrument is called the water spritz. It is a group of spritz bottles full of water. If you pull the handle which makes the water come out, the water is sprayed into a cup. Depending on what the cup is made of , it will make a different sound. It doesn’t make the sound if the cup already has water in it. The necessary vibration to make the sound never vibrates if it’s full of water. So I decided to put tubes which lead back into the spritz bottle. The sound is always clear and you never run out of water. The vibration in the water hitting the cup makes the sound. This instrument is also good because recycled bottles make it work, so you don’t throw away the bottles, but instead make a cool instrument. Everything is connected by metal planks.”

The Kids’ Science Challenge deadline is February 28, 2011!
Get all entries submitted as soon as possible. It’s EASY!

1. Research the 3 science topics
2. Create your one-of-a-kind idea
3. Submit your entry (submit online or download the entry form [PDF: 8 pages, 2.71MB])

If you want to get your class, after-school group or simply your child and a few friends to work on a KSC entry but do not know where to start have a KSC party. Make it a fun afternoon of science games and activities.

To get started the facilitator should review all the tools on this website so that you understand how to use them with the students. And purchase any materials needed for the science activity.

To begin the event hook your computer up to your TV or another big screen so that the whole gang can start by reviewing the videos and themes together. If you do not have access to a big screen your computer will work too.

Next, plan an hour for “research” – allowing each student to play the games on the KSC website. If you have a big group allow one person to play while the other students watch the outcome. While some students are playing games others can do one of the hands-on activities at another table. This is a time for students to experiment with the activities and try them on their own.

After everyone has had time to play games and to do 1-2 activities that interest them take break. Provide a snack, let the kids run around outside for a bit or just to play and be silly. This allows them time to absorb the information they have just been discussing and focus better when they reassemble.

When reassembled give each student pad and paper. Use your computer and big screen to go through the brainstorming page and allow the group to ask questions. When you are done reviewing the brainstorming page each student should begin to think about their own entry (individual or team). Continue to allow them access to the computer so that they may revisit a game or fact. Give them time to complete an outline for an entry or the entry itself. Do not forget to create a drawing, which is optional, but a fun way for the student to express their idea! Be sure not to rush the students. If they do not have time to complete the entry during this session create a follow-up plan. Science is trial and error so give them the space to dream up big ideas.

Teachers, parents and mentors are the driving force in motivating and exciting kids about learning. We hope that you will be encouraged by the excitement the students will have as they begin to experience how much fun science can be. And to see that science is part of all that they do.

Kids’ Science Challenge was proud to partake in the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles’ Annual Family Science Festival on Sunday. The event was themed “Imagination Meets Innovation”. Held in association with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the event brought over 2,000 Girl Scouts and their families to a fun-filled day of exploring the wonders… of science, technology, engineering and math. It was an amazing day!

This is one of the drawings that Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) artist Wilson Huang did of TJ Hutchinson’s  ”Imagine Sports on Mars” winning idea. You’re seeing details of some of the apparatuses that would make the game possible – gathering magnetic sand through a hoop when you’re playing Martian basketball!