2006 Science Fair Awards The ASA judges had a good time reviewing every project and talking with the students who had some statistical content evident in their project displays and reports. The overall percentage of projects using some level of statistical analysis is still low (especially at the York County fair), but we are seeing more awareness and acknowledgment of experimental variation and random error in the students' discussion of their results. In particular, the Capital Area Senior Division had quite a few projects with prominent use of inferential statistical analysis, and we had several good ones to consider for the awards. York County Science and Engineering Fair, March 6-9, 2006 ASA judges Tracey Spangler Bob Dewar Donald Lewin John Rinehart Junior Division No awards presented. No projects contained "significant" statistical content. Senior Division 1. Morgan Rehnberg, York Suburban HS - Senior Division Award - $100 US Bond "The Effect of Body Measurements on Grip Strength", A multiple-regression analysis of five body measurements (e.g.- forearm size)as related to measured grip strength. The relative importance of each measurement is assessed by comparing R-square values and step-wise linear regression. 2. Brice Collamer, Southwestern HS - Senior Division Second Place - $50 US Bond "Nutrient Source Effects on Soluble Phosphorus in Surface Runoff Water", Confidence intervals on group means are used to guide comparisons of experimental results under various conditions. 3. John Conner, York Catholic HS - Senior Division Second Place - $50 US Bond "Ballistic Protection of a House Wall", F-tests are used to assess the variance similarity of experimental control results from 2005 and 2006 projects. Note: Since no Junior Division prize was awarded, two Senior Division "2nd place" awards were added this year. Two of our Senior winners (Morgan and Brice) were also last year's Junior winners. Capital Area Science and Engineering Fair, March 13-17, 2006 ASA judges Bob Dewar Alden Small Tom Short John Rinehart Junior Division 1. Lexi Di Santo, Holy Name of Jesus School - Junior Division Award - $100 US Bond "Should Bugs Bug You", An examination of how pesticide use affects pollination and vegetable production in bean plants, using t-tests on two different measures to compare experimental group means... 2. Allison Blumling, Hershey Middle School - Junior Division Honorable Mention "Handset vs. Cell Phone", A use of the t-test to compare mean accident rates during a video driving simulation, while using a cell phone with either the hand-held unit or a hands-free headset. 3. Vincent Piscioneri, St. Theresa School - Junior Division Honorable Mention "How Cool Is That!", A comparison of heat capacity (cooling ability) of various soft drink options, using standard deviation and confidence intervals on bar charts to guide group-mean comparisons. Senior Division 1. Quyen Slotznick, Cedar Crest HS - Senior Division Award - $100 US Bond "Elodea and Pollutants: Nitrates and Cupric Compounds", A study of combined nitrate and copper effects on several measures of Elodea growth, using 3-D graphics and 2-way ANOVA to characterize and confirm the interaction between the two treatments. 2. Evan Murphy, Bishop McDevitt HS - Senior Division Honorable Mention "Sling Length and Trebuchet's Throw", An evaluation of how one design variation affects performance, with a complete analysis of the data, including confirmation of normality (data histogram with normal curve), 1-way ANOVA to confirm group mean differences; Fisher's LSD statistic for comparison of individual test groups, and curve fitting. 3. Laura Schwartzer, Trinity HS - Senior Division Honorable Mention "Cna Yuo Raed Tihs?", Reading comprehension in text with "jumbled" word spellings, compared to "normal" text passages, using the t-test to compared mean error rates. A Latin Square experimental design was employed to address any potential sequencing effects of the testing protocol.