By Lindsey Zousmer
West Hills Press
West Hills MS
1st Place
Division MS, News Writing
Environmental, Health or Science
Recently the Toshiba science project was completed by 7th graders at West Hills and they came up with a lot of clever ideas for future inventions.
It is a national competition for students to invent new technology that can be created 20 years from now. The Toshiba project allows students to use their creativity as well as be graded on the State of Michigan’s science and language arts criteria.
The project has been going on at our school for many years. Mr. Purdy and Mrs. Attard, 7th-grade language arts and science teachers, have been having their students participate in the project for over 10 years.
The teachers were asked about how they discovered the Toshiba project. “I found out about Toshiba through the NSTA (National Science Teacher’s Association),” said Mrs. Attard. “West Hills also had been doing the project for a few years before I came to teach here so I adopted the project, made some changes, and it is now a large interdisciplinary project in the 7th grade that focuses on both science and language arts. By combining both science and language arts classes, students are able to see and experience the relevance of interdisciplinary connection by learning how to research and write a formal research paper in language arts class, while learning about science topics and applying science knowledge to their invention idea in science class.”
Mr. Purdy thinks that kids often have a larger imagination than adults. “Kids believe that if they can dream it, anything is possible. I love watching them dream big,” said Mr. Purdy.
Mrs. Attard said something very similar. “I love seeing students collaborate and reflect on a real-world problem in which they hope to solve 20 years from now. Each invention idea is so unique and helpful in one way or another and I enjoy reading about the inventions and how they can positively impact the world and society,” said Mrs. Attard.
There are have been two inventions that have won from our school in the past, one in 2008 and one in 2011. Mrs. Attard described the 2008 winner as, “Strabismus Glasses provide auto-corrective treatment for people with the inability to align both eyes when focusing due to imbalance of the muscles of the eyeball. Sensors mounted on the frame of specially designed glasses measure the difference in electrical charge between the front and back of the eye that defines eye movements and then activate LCD-fitted lenses in the glasses to adjust the binocular vision of the eyes.”
In 2011, the idea was a bit different. “The other winning invention was a device that helped people with lung disease or breathing difficulties. It was a device that could be implanted into the body that purified and intensified the oxygen that the person is already breathing in. It was designed as an alternative to people who rely on external oxygen tanks,” says Mr. Purdy.
There have been plenty of inventions proposed in the past, but teachers haven’t dreamed up any of them. Mr. Purdy and Mrs. Attard were asked what their invention would be. Mrs. Attard really wasn’t sure, but Mr. Purdy had something on his mind. “I know it sounds funny but I have always believed that there has to be a way to harness the power of the ocean to make alternative energy. Waves crash ashore around the world along hundreds of thousands of miles of coastline, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It never stops. Nothing affects it.
“I would look into that,” Mr. Purdy responded.