Dazzled by science
Future Navajo scientists show off their ideas

Heather BIlly of Wingate Elementary explains to science fair judge, Andrew Grey, her project on "Awesome Dry Ice Bubbles" during the Navajo Nation Science Fair Thrusday afternoon in Window Rock, Ariz.. Grey said that while judging projects, he can tell the amount of time that a student was given or took while completing a project. He said that the time factor plays an important role on judging the projects. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Indepedent]

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — When Waheulla Haven-Barney looks out to the children with their projects at the Seventh annual Navajo Nation Science Fair, she sees future well-known scientists. It makes sense, of course, since it was only a few years ago that a young pupil from Piñon Middle School named Garrett Yazzie brought his science project to Window Rock for the annual fair.

Yazzie eventually went on to win an invitation to Discovery Young Science Challenge and a trip to NASA Space Camp.

For Haven-Barney, who has been helping to coordinate the fair for the past five years, the pupils at the science fair on Wednesday and Thursday have the same potential.

“I want to improve every year and see how far we can get these children. Get them exposed,” she said. “We have a lot of hidden talent.”

More than 330 children in kindergarten through eighth grade came from a dozen schools across the Navajo Nation to bring their science know-how to the competition.

“The turnout has been wonderful,” Haven-Barney said. Joining the young scientists over the two days were various professionals acting as judges and interviewing the pupils. Some came from Sandia National Laboratory, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and Diné College.

Shapes and density
Many of the pupils did projects and experiments on subjects that interest them.

Emery Thompson, a sixth-grader at Wingate Elementary School, experimented to find out what type of ball would go the furthest when thrown. He hypothesized that the baseball would go farthest, which proved to be correct according to his recordings.

“I discovered that the shapes and density of the object makes a big difference in how far they traveled,” he stated.

Another sixth-grader used his interest in paper airplanes to find out which designs work better.

“I wanted to see what design flew farthest,” Aaron Woody said, hypothesizing that a cobra design would work best.

“I learned that different designs make it fly farther.”

Woody said his favorite subject in school is science and he is interested in aerodynamics. At past science fairs, he did projects on crystals, hurricanes and tornadoes.

For Naat’aanii Todea, his hobby led him to question if different types of wheels had an effect on skateboards.

A sixth-grader at Tse Hootsooi Dine Bi’olta’, Todea started skateboarding when he was 4 years old and only recently picked up the hobby again.

Todea guessed that larger wheels would be faster. After finally finding a ramp that didn’t have snow on it and gathering the necessary materials, Todea performed the experiment by measuring 62 feet on descending concrete ramp and having his father time him. Though he found that the larger wheels were faster, the difference was not statistically significant.

Wearing an “I Do All of My Own Stunts” T-shirt, Todea explained that he has attended the Navajo Nation Science Fair for three years now and does projects on things he likes to do.

He said he likes science projects because “you meet lots of people and you get to read a lot about science.”

Music and personality
Lakeisha Bia and Brittany Jo teamed up to work on a project that interested them both.

“We like to listen to music and we wanted to do something different,” Bia said.

Bia listens to hip-hop and Jo listens to rock.

They noted that the school does not allow pupils to listen to music during school hours. They decided to test if music affects personality by making a rock fan listen to hip-hop for two weeks.

Other music-related projects studied the effects of music on heart rate while exercising and another asked if learning while listening to music helps to get better grades.

Also in the team category were Marcellius James and Julian Cohoe, who built a model car with a motor to make it go.

“We used rubber bands to make it run,” James said.

“We didn’t know that the motor would work,” Cohoe added. “It turned out it does work.”

Both enjoy mathematics in school.

Iron levels
Andrew Wauneka, a sixth-grader from Red Rock Day School, wondered if there was really iron in the Quaker Oatmeal that he eats every morning, so he conducted an experiment to compare iron levels among oatmeal, Cream of Wheat and cereal.

Wauneka said his favorite subject in school is science because “you can learn more like how your body works.” He said he wants to be a scientist when he grows up.

Haven-Barney said that the purpose of the science fair is to get more young kids interested in science and to expose more of the Nation’s young scientists. To enter most statewide competitions, the pupil must win at the school and regional level. The Navajo Nation Science Fair qualifies as a regional level.

“Our schools are slowly ascending these major events,” Haven-Barney said. She added that when she goes to various science fairs, “It’s really good to see some Navajos there representing the Navajo Nation.”

Ribbons were awarded for first through third places in various categories on both days. The first day, children in grades kindergarten through fifth displayed their projects for judging. On Thursday, pupils in grades sixth through eight took over the Department of Diné Education auditorium with exhibits of their projects.