Spring 2021 *STAR* Projects
Congratulations to Spring 2021 Star Project award-winning teams!
Sharing information and ideas to improve thinking for all is a very important part of science. In this section, we highlight a few exemplary research projects. We profile student teams at each age level whose overall research was strong, and who did an exceptional job at one or more aspects of scientific research and communication. The Star Projects listed on this page highlight some of the best projects nominated by our scientist mentors and teachers. Take a look at the hard work middle and high school students are doing around the world!
To see ALL PlantingScience Star Projects, click here!
| Team Name | Why is it a STAR project? How can other teams learn from what this team has done? | School | Category(ies) | Nominated by: |
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They have been consistent in asking questions & uploading documents that help the mentor understand what they are doing. The students and mentor communicated frequently. They discussed the experiment and science/scientists. | Catholic Memorial School | Doing Investigations, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Tatyana Soto, Scientist Liaison, and Gwynne Lim, Scientist Mentor |
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The Lion Team did a great job communicating the details of their experiment with their scientist mentor and made insightful conclusions from their results, even when things didn't necessarily go according to plan. | Catholic Memorial School | Planning Your Study, Doing Investigations, Making Sense of Findings, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Lauren Cole, Scientist Liaison |
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The whole process was (exciting for all involved), the mentor is responsive and encouraging, the students love to ask questions and show their initiatives on looking for answers. | DeWitt Middle School | Making Sense of Findings, Online Communication | Lian Chee Foong, Scientist Liaison |
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This group was my favorite group to follow. They were excited about the project from the beginning! They worked hard to consider the best way to investigate their question. They did a nice job taking in to consideration their mentors feedback. And one group member in particular did a great job with the research following their findings and came up with an awesome follow up question! Additionally, they did great communicating with their mentor. | DeWitt Middle School | Planning Your Study, Making Sense of Findings, Making Presentations, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Evelyn Gray, Teacher |
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The team had great communication with the scientist mentor, being also able to produce nice graphs to show their experimental outcomes, as well as to explore possible reasons that might be behind their observations. | DeWitt Middle School | Making Sense of Findings, Making Presentations, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Marina Osorio, Scientist Liaison |
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They're quite structured in collecting and presenting data and can also be creative by showing their data under different perspectives. | DeWitt Middle School | Doing Investigations, Making Sense of Findings, Making Presentations, Online Communication | Marina Osorio, Scientist Liaison |
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I really thought the experiment was unusual and thought provoking. The students did a good job of documenting with photos which they posted online. | Franklin County High School | Doing Investigations, Recording Your Ideas, Innovation: Going Beyond the PlantingScience Project | Candice Groat, Scientist Mentor |
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Along with their class, the team not only collected data but also reported their results after statistical analysis. They did a great job of communicating their results and analysis both visually and verbally. Although the data may not have supported their hypotheses, they came up with sound reasoning as to why this might have been the case and presented ideas that could be used to improve their experimental design. | Loudoun School for Advanced Studies | Doing Investigations, Making Sense of Findings, Making Presentations | Audrey Geise, Scientist Liaison |
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This student group came up with a very interesting idea to study the interaction between invertebrates and their plant growth. They used earthworms and mealworms to test the interaction they might have on plants. This group was detailed in their set up and extremely organized in how they collected data. They did not need reminders to stay on task and check their plants daily. In addition, they showed excellent collaboration with each other and their communication with their mentor online. They kept their project page updated and posted weekly updates to their mentor. | Medford High School | Planning Your Study, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Nichole Schelling, Teacher |
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This group did a great job of designing their experiment and understanding the importance of multiple trials. They ran several trials of their germination experiment first and noticed some inconsistencies in data, so they ran several more trials of each variable. They worked well as a group and did a nice job of communicating and updating their mentor. I am impressed with their data collected and attention to things that may have affected their plants. | Medford High School | Planning Your Study, Doing Investigations, Recording Your Ideas | Nichole Schelling, Teacher |
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The way they analyzed their finding is spectacular. | Ottawa Township High School | Making Sense of Findings | Amina Yaqoob, Scientist Mentor |
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This is a star project because it is conducted by a group of very engaged students! They made sure to write weekly in a very organized manner. They have shown to understand that you need a hypothesis for your question, or something you expect will happen. They have also came up their own experimental design. They are motivated to learn and keep up with me, and also ask for suggestions! Also, all members participate by writing what the have been doing, which is great! | San Francisco Friends School | Planning Your Study, Online Communication | Sarita Munoz-Gomez, Scientist Mentor |
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This team was extremely passionate about their project and learning. They thought about the impacts of their project beyond PlantingScience. | Watsonville High School | Innovation: Going Beyond the PlantingScience Project | Lydia Grace Tressel, Scientist Liaison |
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Youbin, Giana, Bella, and Izzy made excellent observations about their seeds. They persevered even when their methods didn't work out quite as they expected, and they clearly communicated their thoughts and questions to me as a mentor. I'm proud of them for really engaging with science as a process of exploration. | Wilbraham Monson Academy | Planning Your Study, Doing Investigations, Online Communication, Recording Your Ideas | Hilary Rose Dawson, Scientist Mentor |
