1999 Science & Technology fair

The Genesis National Science & Technology Fair was held at Te Papa, Wellington between 7 - 12 December 1999. 30 regional winners attended the National Fair in 1999. There were also three students who came as guest exhibitors representing Taiwan and the United States.

The National Fair is the culmination of the work of many thousands of students throughout the country and is where the best 30-35 exhibits, drawn nationally, compete against each other. It is truly the pinnacle of achievement for students participating in investigative science and innovative technology in New Zealand.

Judging took place over two days and the award ceremony was held on 9^th December and was attended by a large audience which included Mayor Mark Blumsky as guest speaker.

Genesis Energy Premier Award for Science

Sarah Pepworth, Freyberg High School: Piaget's Conservation Paradigm

Sarah won the award for the most outstanding and meritorious scientific exhibit of the Genesis Energy 1999 National Science and Technology Fair. The award is for travel to represent New Zealand at the London International Youth Science Forum. However because Sarah is too young to attend the Forum she has decided to use the money for an educational scholarship in the future.

Do children acquire certain understandings at an earlier age than they did 60 years ago? Do earlier childhood experiences influence this? In repeating some of the investigations of Piaget, Sarah has used 80 young New Zealanders to investigate the understanding of conservation of liquids, number, substance, length and area. She found that they acquire an understanding at around the same age as their counterparts n the 1930's.

Genesis Energy Premier Award for Technology

Lisa Pedersen, Otakiri Primary School: School Bus + Flashing Lights = Safer Children

Lisa won the award for being the most outstanding and meritorious technology exhibit of the 1999 Genesis Energy National Science and Technology Fair. The award is for travel to represent New Zealand at the London International Youth Science Forum. Because Lisa is not old enough to attend the Forum she has decided to use the money for education scholarship in the future.

Following the tragic death of a child leaving a school bus near Lisa's home she thought there had to be a way of preventing such an incident occuring again. She analysed 13 years of data relating to school bus accidents and trialled the placement of a flashing light on the rear of her local school bus. This resulted in a signifiacnt reduction in vehicle speeds passing a stationary bus. Lisa's recommendation is that there be two flashing lights attached to all school buses in New Zealand.

Genesis Energy Award for Excellence in Science

Olga Nikora, Christchurch High School: Tree Leaves: Shape, Boundary, Structure

Lisa won the award for the second most outstanding and meritorious science exhibit of the Genesis Energy National Science and Technology Fair 1999 and is a Genesis Energy Education Scholarship to the value of $2500.00

Fractals are a mathematical analysis method sometimes employued in modelling situations. Olga has used thee such approaches to analyse ten different species of New Zealand trees. In this study she has extended the findings of three American scientists examining Northern Hemisphere species. She investigated leaf shape, leaf boundary, and branching structure of veins and to test the hypothesis that leaf geometry shows fractal properties in a wide range of scales. Such data can be used to determine future plantings and forest management.

Genesis Energy Award for Excellence in Technology

Edward Hare, St George's School, Wanganui: Keep it Up

Edward received the award for the second most outstanding and meritorious technology exhibit of the Genesis Energy National Science & Technology Fair 1999, and is a Genesis Energy Education Scholarship to the value of $2500.00

Ever had that problem when you have injured your knee and you have to keep it our of the water when you're in the bath? When injured last year Edward was faced with this very problem, resulting in his design and development of the "rest", a low cost, easily cleaned, lightweight, waterproof device for supporting an afflicted limb.

Kiwanis/Travel for Less Award

Elisabeth Taylor, Columba College, Otago: Differences in memory in Childhood: Implications in the Courtroom

Elisabeth won the award for an outstanding science exhibit where the exhibitor is over the age of 15 years. This award allows Elisabeth to travel and participate in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair in the year 2000.

The reliability of childhood witnesses took Elisabeth's interest and she has involved twenty children, from 5 to 12 years of age, in her investigation. She used a short video to assess how much they remembered, their accuracy of recall and their ability to recognise characters. While recognition does not appear to differ with age, she has found that recall does with the older children having a higher performance.

IPENZ Travel Award

Ruvan Mendis, Newlands College: MSAU Median Strip

Ruvan won the award for an outstanding technology exhibit. The award allows Ruvan to travel to Singapore to the Nanyang Technology and Engineering Research Programme in Singapore in the year 2000.

The MSAU has been designed to be a "wake up" call for weary drivers on long road journeys who may be unaware they are drifting over the median strip. The system utilises the road reflectors and infra red signals. Here is a device with the potential to reduce the number of head-on collisions and consequently our road toll.

NZ Association of Science Educators Award

James Canny, Verdon College, Southland: The Rainmaster 2000

James won the award for being an outstanding exhibitor of either a science or technology exhibit. The award James to visit venues of scientific and/or technological interest within New Zealand, to the value of $1000.

Cycling is James' main mode of transport to and from school daily, often through poor weather conditions. He has designed, developed and produced a canopy hood for his bike and having gone through the trialling of his prototype he is confident about his findings. In the process of this development James developed skills in gas welding, engineering and carpet cleaning!

A J Park Science Fair Travel Award

Hwee Sin Chong, Otago Girl's High School: The Quantum Hall Effect

Hwee Sin won the award which is for an exhibitor of either a science or technology exhibit. The award allows Hwee Sin to visit venues of scientific and/or technological interest within New Zealand, to the value of $1000.

Quatum mechanics, resistance, semi-conducting material, magnetic and electric fields are all components in Hwee Sin's investigation in this new and exciting fields of physics. She has used carbon where earlier researchers used copper and from this substitution Hwee Sin has developed a separate explanation for the resultant behaviour of carbon in liquid nitrogen temperatures.

Royal Society of New Zealand Award

Erin van Ameringen, Kerikeri High School: Rainbow Growing

Erin was awarded the The Royal Society of New Zealand Award, made to an outstanding exhibit with no restriction on level of schooling, is a $1000 Education Scholarship.

A New Scientists article on the growth of plants due to their photochrome responses first attracted Erin to this topic. Locally her results have caused a stir because the citrus growers use white polythene under their plants believing that it stimulates plant growth. However Erin found that red rather than white stimulated growth. One mandarin exporter is now trialling the red polythene which Erin used in her lab - based investigations.

NIWA Award

Tina Alderton, Kamo High School: Senior Super Snack

This award was made to an outstanding exhibit with no restriction on level of schooling, and is a $1000 Education Scholarship.

Do older New Zealanders eat a healthy diet while rushing from bowls to aqua jogging to golf or gardening? Tina found they didn't (it was cream puffs and salty crackers). She has designed, developed and trialled a range of snack bars to meet the dietary needs of older people. They expressed a preference for one and so Tina's "Senior Super Snack" bar is the end product, ready for manufacturer and marketing.

Merit Award

Haydn Luckman, Auckland Grammar School: Caught on Camera

This exhibit is an interesting mix of science and technology, as Hadyn has continued to develop and modify his camera mechanism since exhibiting at the national fair in 1997. To improve its efficiency and accuracy to enhance his collection of data, he has developed a tripping device for his camera to enable the monitoring and recording of nocturnal feeding activity. As a result he has successfully unraveled the secretive behaviour of a number of nocturnal species such as possums, rats, wallabies, ferrets and feral pigs in the New Zealand bush..

Merit Award

Donald Fraser, Hawarden Area School: Quick Hitch

A problem on the farm at home presented a challenge to the Fraser family when they purchased a new 4 wheel all terrain vehicle and found it had a coupling which did not match the trailer draw bar. Donald has met safety and practical challenges along with his resultant design and production of his 'quick hitch'. This development will go a long way to overcoming frustration and eliminating the temptations to use "No 8 wire" solutions.