HotChalk and the Federation of American Scientists are pleased to
announce the winners of HotChalk’s 2009 Virtual Science Fair. Winning
videos will be featured on the web site for the new video game by FAS,  Immune Attack 2.0. The 1st place winner’s school will also receive a LabQuest Quick Start Package from Vernier, valued at $349.

This year’s Virtual Science Fair entries were excellent. The students
who submitted entries should be proud of their projects, as all were
of top caliber. The winning entries addressed all aspects of a
scientific presentation (Background and significance, Choice of
methods, Experimental procedures, Analysis of results, and Discussion
of the relevance of the results) and managed to do so in a clear,
creative and humorous way. Presenting well reasoned scientific
concepts to the public in an engaging format will help educate people
in areas that concern the environment and personal health. We are
proud to help students develop these skills.

Winners:

1st Place Winner:

Bianca Trifoi

Grade 10, Windermere Preparatory School, Orange County, Windermere, FL
Project: Sugar’s Effect on Cut Flowers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ugzRMhJqU
Judges Comments: Bianca’s method, presentation, discussion of results
were all excellent. The methods were clear, contained multiple
controls and were well designed.

2nd Place Winner:

Nyasha Smith

Grade 8, AYA Educational Institute, Stone Mountain, GA
Project: Natural Preservation Science Project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSkDVdZ26c
Judges Comments: Nyasha choose an area of study that is highly
relevant today. She presented background research about why artificial
preservatives are harmful to our health, and presented an experiment
designed to demonstrate how well food with natural preservatives.

3rd Place Winner:

Ahmed and Dania Saleem

Grade 10 & 12, Windermere Preparatory School, Orange County, Windermere, FL
Project: Atoms, a Poem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyE0LNBOCZI
Judges Comments: This method of information presentation is effective
because it is engaging. Ahmed and Dania took on a concept that is
difficult to talk about generally, because atoms are too small to see,
and made a discussion of key terms into something that is fun to
listen to.

Honorable Mentions:

Nathan Barnett

Grade 9, Windermere Preparatory School, Orange County, Windermere, FL
Project: Structure of an Animal Cell Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5RfoGiupM
Judges Comments: This video is an example of how modern technology and
a creative mind can take us into tiny places we cannot normally visit,
but that enrich our lives when we know them.

Akilah Ashshakir & Nyle King

Grade 9, AYA Educational Institute, Stone Mountain, GA
Project: A Comparison Between Low Fat and Regular Snacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkY6nHqrE-Q
Judges Comments: Akilah and Nyle posed a very good question, made use
of organic extraction techniques in a creative way.

Congratulations to all the winners!