Four teams composed of STRETCH students, along with coach and teacher Annalisa Stonner, of Delta Woods Middle School in Lee’s Summit, were national finalists in the second annual Bright Schools Competition.
STRETCH is the Blue Springs School District’s program for gifted and talented students.
The competition was a collaborative effort of the National Sleep Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association to encourage students in grades 6 to 8 to explore the correlation between light and sleep and how sleep influences student health and performance.
Though the Blue Springs school wasn’t a winner announced this month, it was among 50 national finalists chosen among 150 teams made up of nearly 500 students from 53 schools.
Sign Up and Save
Get six months of free digital access to The Kansas City Star
#ReadLocal
The teams identified, investigated and researched an issue related to light and sleep as it pertains to their community or young adolescents.
Using scientific inquiry or engineering design concepts they developed a prototype, created an awareness campaign, or wrote a research proposal for the competition. Each team submited a written report detailing their project along with a three-minute video showcasing their investigation. Projects were evaluated on the basis of scientific accuracy, innovativeness and potential impact.
The projects from Blue Springs Schools:
•
Light Tekk —by Ashton Davis-Stout, Davin Lee and Sayf Nabulsi — who explored innovations in light filters used in theaters and film along with lenses used in cataract surgery, “Light Tekk” looked at the problem of the effect too much television has on Americans’ sleep.
•
Right Night— by Aidan David-Pennington, Alexander Kochman, Matthew Randolph and Natalie Tran — was an automated in-home sleep optimization device to provide the ideal amount of various wavelengths of light along with the ideal environment to encourage better sleep and overall performance.
•
Sleep E-Z —by Abigail Cooper, Aidan True, Aiden Weydert and Olivia Wrisinger — was inspired by those who suffer from insomnia, “Sleep E-Z,” is an app that would enable the user to achieve a better night’s sleep via different amounts of sound and blue light.
•
Slumberr-Sleep Aid Mask —by Caroline Nesbitt, Charis Morasch and Kelsea Kilmer — was a prototype that would help eliminate delirium experienced by intensive care unit hospital patients. The mask would use green light and white noise to help the user experience a more restful sleep.
The teams identified, investigated and researched an issue related to light and sleep as it pertains to their community or young adolescents. Using scientific inquiry or engineering design concepts they develop a prototype, create an awareness campaign, or write a research proposal for the competition.
Each team submits a written report detailing their project along with a three-minute video showcasing their investigation. Projects are evaluated on the basis which includes scientific accuracy, innovativeness and potential impact.
Comments