Advanced research open house on June 7
Kingston High School will conduct an open house for the Authentic Research Question program on June 7.
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Kingston High School will conduct an open house for the Authentic Research Question program that has helped students discover that science on a small scale can have large and significant impacts.
The three-year college level course presentation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 7 in east room 114 at the high school.
Among projects discussed will be one by high school senior Katherine Houston, who used a love for scuba diving and appreciation of the role of coral reefs to design a method that aids growth of the tiny sea creature. Her project to study the “effect of various nursery techniques on growth rate and mortality of Acropora corals in northeast Tobago” showed a way to restore the threatened reefs.
“Since 1970 coral reefs over the world have lost 80 percent of coral cover, putting at risk the ecosystems and all of the services that it provides,” Houston said.
“I was researching a specific coral restoration technique known as coral gardening, which involves harvesting healthy (coral) from a wild reef and bringing them to a nursery setting where they can be assisted in their growth and then transplanted back into the reef in a new location,” she said. “The objective of this study was to determine what type of structure and attachment would have the highest rate of success of coral regeneration.”
Houston’s experiments
showed success with a frame structure consisting of bent metal rods that had coral fragments tied down compared to a structure made from PVC piping that had coral suspended in water columns.
“Success was measured by examining growth rates and mortality of two native coral species to identify the best and most efficient approach to building coral nurseries in the Tobago and Trinidad area,” she said.
The project took second place twice in subregional and regional competitions for the Junior Science and Humanities Symposia competition, which is sponsored the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Science teacher M. J. Reiss said the course allows
students to ask questions about topics they have deep interest in even if there aren’t distance ecosystems involved. She noted that some of the most important studies involve issue close to home.
“It’s the science of research, so it’s available to all sorts of students,” she said.
“The fields are wide ranging,” Reiss said. “We have one student working on ... what happens when people
get put into jail. There’s many different things. It’s not just going to exotic places.”