Kids' Science Challenge

Year One Archive

News Updates

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The Kids' Science Challenge
is proud to be recognized by the Parents' Choice awards!

KSC featured on the Today show! Click here to watch!

SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO SPACE!
Click here to go to the SETI Earth Speaks project page. Submit pictures, sounds and text messages that you want to send to other worlds!

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Click here to learn more about Flavor Science.


VIDEO! Watch the Candy Doctors experiment in the Cadbury flavor lab to make your next visit to the doctor more yummy! See videos to the left.

WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE "Open Your Mouth and Say 'Yummy'" Click here to read about the Candy Doctors in the Washington Posts' Kids Post section.

CANDY DOCTORS DEVELOP IDEAS - Flavor winners Devin, Anna and Ian met with a local doctor and spoke with flavorist Joan Harvey to develop ideas for their candy tongue depressor.

WINNERS! Virginia Beach 5th-graders known as "Team Candy Doctors" want to see if they can make a candy tongue depressor that will taste good, smell delicious and not make you gag when the doctor tells you to ‘Say Ahhhh.’ Flavorist Joan Harvey felt the students were creative in replacing an experience they don’t enjoy with one that would be more pleasurable. She’ll help the students to create the candy tongue depressor, which might even help soothe your throat!

Click here to learn more about Flavor Science.


Click here to learn more about Water Quality.


VIDEO! Watch Claire collecting samples with Adina Paytan on the soccer fields of San Francisco. See videos to the left.

CLAIRE ON RADIO! "Competition turns science into child's play" Click here to read the NPR-Weekend Edition interview snippet, or follow the link to listen.

CLAIRE ON TV! "Bay Area girl combines love of soccer, science" Click here to read the June 1st KGO-TV interview, or follow the link to watch it. Awesome, Claire!

UC SANTA CRUZ PRESS RELEASE "Third grader's question about soccer fields lead to UCSC science lab" Click here to read the article and see Claire working in her lab coat!

WINNER! 3rd-grader Claire Dworsky's question is "Can we test different stages of the water cycle runoff from grass and turf fields to see if one is more toxic than the other and if they could hurt plants, people, animals or ocean life?" Scientist Adina Paytan was impressed that Claire’s challenge was based on observations of the environment and posing questions that stem from these observations. Dr. Paytan says, "I will be working with Claire to design the experiments that will answer the questions she posed. Claire will collect runoff from various fields and analyze this water for pollutants. We will also try to get information from the city about the frequency of watering the fields and the use of fertilizers and pesticides to maintain the fields." Congratulations, Claire!

Click here to learn more about Water Quality.


Click here to learn more about Skateboard Engineering.


CHECK IT OUT! KSC winner Lindsay Carnes is featured on the Today show, and Mr. Dyson talks about her design! Click here to watch the segment.

VIDEO! Watch Lindsay and Paul as they tell kids about the science of skateboards. Check out videos to the left.

WINNER! 5th-grader Lindsay Carnes will be working with the skateboarders to see what would happen if you used balls for wheels, like on a Dyson vacuum. Skateboard engineer Michael Bream says "I've never seen anything quite like it in skateboarding before. There are several aspects that would need to be tested, including the size, position and composition of the ball. One of the main reasons we decided on Lindsay's idea is that it's one that would yield a lot of experimentation to get right, and both Paul Schmitt and I believe that this could actually result in a viable product." Congratulations, Lindsay!

Click here to learn more about Skateboard Engineering.


Click here to learn more about SETI.


VIDEO! Watch Kamau in his adventures at SETI, talking to scientists and being interviewed by NPR. View videos at left.

SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO SPACE!
Click here to go to the SETI Earth Speaks project page. Submit pictures, sounds and text messages that you want to send to other worlds! Note: This link will direct you off the KSC website.

SETI PRESS RELEASE! "Earth Speaks: New Project Collects Messages to the Cosmos" Click here to read this excellent article about Kamau's project and recent visit to the SETI Institute.

WINNER! 6th-grader Kamau Hamilton's question for the SETI team is "How can we communicate with extraterrestrials if we don’t know if they have a language similar to ours and if we don’t know their communication system?" A common phenomenon on Earth and other planets would be the sound of the physical environment. Should we send sounds from the earth, like rain, storms, lightning, or the ocean? The SETI Institute scientists will work with Kamau on recording, collecting and putting together a list of earth-sounds to include in a message to extraterrestrials. We can't wait to hear what they come up with!

Click here to learn more about SETI.