2010 Project Competition Winners

Winning projects may be viewed here. Students in grades 4–12 are encouraged to submit projects. They pose a question, design a study to answer the question, collect and analyze data, answer the question using the results of their analysis, and then review what went well and what areas could be improved. A short write-up on the activity, generally fewer than 10 pages, is submitted. At times, science fair projects serve as the foundation for projects, but it is the statistical aspects—design, data collection, graphical approaches, and analyses—that are important for this competition.

Each project is read by at least one grade 6–12 teacher and at least one college-level statistician. Top projects are read and discussed by all judges for each grade category. A scoring rubric was used to guide the judges.

Projects that allow students to study questions they are interested in having answered are always the most exciting. Of course, the types of questions students ask change with age. In the grades 4–6 category, projects focused on differences in typesetting books and what conditions generate the most algae growth. A student’s project in the grades 7–9 category included an evaluation of blade angle and size on wind turbine performance. Projects in the grades 10–12 category included surveying students about their eating habits, studying what types of techniques work best for recalling information, and comparing the number of hours students in middle and high school spend on Facebook. Students in the grades 10–12 category used many of the tests taught in AP Statistics, including simple linear regression analysis, matched paired t tests, and the chi-square test.

Grades 4-6

First Place

Andrew Blonsky
Changing Exhaust into Oxygen: Can Algae Survive in a Tailpipe?
Price Creek Independent School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Second Place

Nishanth Jayram
Fontastic Voyage: A Study of How Books Are Typeset
Sravani Academy, Morgan Hill, California

Grades 7-9

Second Place

Anish Bhattacharya
The Effect of Blade Angle and Size on Wind Turbine Performance
Unity Point Elementary School, Makanda, Illinois

Grades 10-12

First Place

Omid Esmaili, Randy Weber-Levine, Cristian Marcel, and Eric Rizzo
Edifying Experimentation
Ward Melville Senior High School, Stony Brook, New York

Second Place

Maggie Law, Erik Christianson, and Chanel O’Brien
Eating Healthy: An Investigation into the Health Conscious Eating Habits of Teens
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts

Third Place (tie)

Anna Lubitz, Megan Earl, Elizabeth Meshel, and Polina Viro
Multitasking: Does It Work? The Effects of Texting on Recall Ability of AP Statistics Students
Ward Melville High School, East Setauket, New York

Third Place (tie)

Mira Mehta and Joanne Chiao
Clocking in Facebook Hours
Oakton High School, Oakton, Virginia

Honorable Mention

Christena Swartz and Anna Christianson
C Is for Cookie: Pillsbury vs. Nestle
Walter Payton College Prep, Chicago, Illinois

Project Competition Judges

Megan E. Mocko of the University of Florida directed the competition with the following judges:

Jocelyne Arnott, North America Risk
Demetris Athientis, University of Florida
Patricia Bahnsen, Baylor University
Laura Bauer, Villa Maria Academy, Malvern, Pennsylvania
Ruth Carver, Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania
Rameela Chandrasekhar, University at Buffalo
Anne Sophie Charest, Carnegie-Mellon University
Meghan Cherry, Saginaw Valley State University
Lewis Davidson, Mallard Creek High School, Charlotte, North Carolina
Jianghong Deng, George Mason University
Valerie Durkalski, Medical University of South Carolina
Julius Esunge, University of Mary Washington
Kandice Raymond Fielder, Entergy Services, Inc.
Claudio Fuentes, University of Florida
Vicki Greenberg, Woodward Academy, College Park, Georgia
Leigh Harrell, Virginia Tech
Katherine Harris, Patrick Henry High School, Ashland, Virginia
Mary Harrison, Salem High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Megan Henly, University of New Hampshire
Tim Hill, La Crosse Central High School, LaCrosse, Wisconsin
Norma Hubele, Arizona State University
Sam Koski, Miami Springs Senior High, Miami Springs, Florida
Lee Kucerra, Capistrano Valley High School, Laguna Beach, California
Alejandra Livingston, Nevada Department of Corrections
Christopher J. Malone, Winona State University
Paul Myers, Woodward Academy, College Park, Georgia
Julie Nawrocki, Skyline High School, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Eric Nelson, Thurston High School, Redford, Michigan
Amber Parsons, Parsons Statistical Consulting
Adrianna Perez, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Jamis Perret, Texas A&M University
Dori Peterson, Stevens High School, San Antonio, Texas
Lisa Schell, Solanco High School, Quarryville, Pennsylvania
Marla Smith, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Kristen Springfield, Markham Woods Middle School, Seminole County, Florida
LeAnna Stork, Monsanto Co.
Quan Tran, University of Florida
Rieken Venema, University of Alaska
Nancy Wells, Milford Mill Academy, Baltimore, Maryland
Raymond Willie, East Islip High School, East Islip, New York
Linda Wohlever, Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, Ohio
Agnes Wong, Sanford Middle School, Sanford, Florida
Donna Young, Kent Island High School, Stevensville, Maryland
Hamden Yousuf, University of Michigan
Daohai Yu, University of South Florida
Tasneem Zaihra, University of New Brunswick-Saint John

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