Seventh graders gather data to document the plight of a small mammal that could be on the brink of becoming endangered, and interpret the experience through presentations, models, video, art, and poems.

Cute. Local. Threatened by climate change. The phrases that describe pikas, a rodent-like mammal that lives in Utah’s mountains, sounded like a winning combination to Niki Hack, a seventh grade science teacher at the Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE). She had been searching for ways to engage her students, who can find it hard to think beyond their immediate world. After listening to their conversations, Hack saw an opportunity to tap into something they care about.

“One of the things I notice about kids this age is how much more aware they are of environmental things than I was growing up,” she says. “If you ask them what they are concerned about, it is global warming and things like that, even if they can’t articulate it.”

For the past two years, Hack has been teaming with Johanna Varner, a cheery University of Utah graduate student known as “Pika Jo”, to help the middle schoolers collect data on pikas, which could be on the brink of becoming endangered. One day each fall, sixty-plus seventh graders take a field trip to the Uintas or Wasatch, some visiting the mountains for the first time. At designated study sites, they perform vegetation surveys, observe the animals, and document where they live by using global positioning system (GPS) units to record positions of haypiles, each representing an individual pika’s food source for the winter.

“There isn't anybody else conducting this kind of monitoring every year in the state, so the kids are actually advancing our understanding of pika status and distribution in Utah,” says Varner.

Looking like a cuddly cross between a hamster and a rabbit, pikas have been steadily disappearing from mountains in the American West for the past forty years. The prevailing hypothesis is that rising temperatures caused by climate change are driving the animals to cooler, higher elevations. With a high resting body temperature of 104˚F, they can't tolerate environmental temperatures of over 75˚F for more than a handful of hours. Already living near the tops of this state’s mountains, it is a matter of time before pikas may simply have no place left to go.

In 2010, pikas were denied protection under the Endangered Species Act partly due to insufficient data documenting population declines across the mountain ranges in which they have historically lived. Hack says that one day, the students’ work may be incorporated into published research and could even be used to decide whether pikas deserve an endangered species listing.

Before the field trip, the pika story seems abstract and the students are disengaged, says Hack. “After they see the pikas, they have a million questions. They become super passionate and outraged that they didn’t make the Endangered Species list.“ She adds that the weekend after the field trip, a number of kids bring their families to the pika study site to share their experience.

Back in the classroom, the students perform additional research, some working with teachers in other subjects to explore their new interest in different ways by creating movies, art, or writing poems. Believing that the kids get more out of the experience if held accountable, Hack brings them to the University of Utah to present their work to scientists. “Each year I’m nervous that they won’t be ready,” says Hack. “But they always come through.”

A website that uses videos and games to teach the latest in science received over 50 million page views last year. (Noelle Swan contributed to this story)

Advances in science are occurring at a record pace, presenting a significant challenge for teachers. Because it can take five years for textbooks to go from concept to distribution, they may already be outdated even before they reach the classroom. A textbook is dead, while science is living and constantly moving forward.

The Genetics Science Learning Center (GSLC) at the University of Utah, has found one solution to the problem. With the internet as a rapid publishing tool, their website Learn.Genetics teaches up-to-date science through animations, games, and articles. The formula has made it one of the top websites in the world, garnering 50 million page views last year alone.

"One of the reasons I think our materials are so popular is that for many of them we are right on the cutting edge of science," says GSLC director Louisa Stark. The site covers new science of DNA cloning, drug addiction, stem cells, and other topics. She adds, "When it comes to epigenetics, we have some of the only materials out there."

Epigenetics?

The question comes up every year in Keri Shingleton's high school biology class in Tulsa, Oklahoma, "How can genetically identical twins grow into such different people?" For years, Shingleton had no good answer.

After all, her students had learned how the genome, all the DNA in our cells, makes us who we are. Genes within our DNA carry instructions for building the proteins that make up our physical characteristics, such as eye color and height. Identical twins inherit identical genomes from their parents, and so should be exactly the same.

Now when students ask the question, she tells them to go to the Learn.Genetics website. There, an artistic video demonstrates that many differences in twins are caused by exposure to different environmental factors – e.g. nutrition, pesticides, and medications - which change their epigenomes.

The epigenome is the sum of chemical modifications that are made to the DNA genome. Adding and removing epigenetic tags can control how much protein product is made. Just as important as DNA, epigenetic changes can occur throughout one's lifetime, and can lead to risks for diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.

Students learn these concepts through interactive tools such as by becoming a mother rat in the virtual reality game, "Lick Your Rats." Students control how much the mother licks her pup, and see how that action changes a specific gene, and certain aspects of the brain. These changes influence whether the pup will have a calm or anxious demeanor as an adult.

Shingleton thinks it's a good way to teach a complicated topic like epigenetics. "I think I will continue to [use the site], even after it is in the textbooks, because it's so interactive and engaging for students."

Developing a World Class Science Education Site

While teachers are drawn to the website for its accurate, up-to-date information, students like that the site resembles YouTube or a video game more than it does a classroom worksheet.

Nearly twenty years ago, the first version of the website was simply text on a screen. The center has since learned that having the audience virtually live the science is key not only for attracting an audience, but also for teaching.

"You can throw [together] something and make it fun, but you can also do things like make somebody grab for a certain thing, or give them a choice. Make them actually think about what they're doing," says GSLC associate director Kevin Pompei. "That way, you tie the interactivity to something that also makes them learn."

He adds that a large part of the website's success comes from heavy involvement of
those who know students best: teachers. The GSLC chose 19 teachers out of 350 applicants from across the country to help develop the epigenetics module. The teachers learned about the latest research in epigenetics directly from some of the world's most prominent geneticists. They then brainstormed how to develop visual tools to explain the epigenome in a way that would work well in the classroom.

Much like producing a movie, it took the collaborative effort of 21 GSLC staff members including programmers, graphic artists, a voice over artist, and music composer, to transform the teachers' ideas into digital lessons. "We take the core of what they [teachers] come up with, and then we figure out how do we make this fun and interesting," says Pompei.

Pompei says it's satisfying to know that they've created one of the top science education websites. "It feels great because you know so many millions of people are looking at that one thing," he says. "[For example] somebody's learning somewhere about how small atoms really are, and how small DNA really is, so you have to figure that has some sort of impact on the world."

The GSLC is now developing modules for teaching the human microbiome: the microorganisms, such as bacteria, that live in and on our bodies. It is due to be released in early Fall, just in time for school.

This weekend, hundreds of high school students participated in a regional sporting event at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. But in this competition, the players were robots.

With the sound of a bell, the robots were off, trying to fling Frisbees into four goals at each end of the field.

Forty-four teams from ten states built robots that competed in the challenge, nineteen of which were from Utah. The hard work of designing, building, and testing the robots took over six weeks of intensive collaboration between team members, says Sheyne Anderson of the DaVinci Dragons from Ogden.

Anderson describes how the initial phase of the challenge works. "We drove down to Hunter High in Salt Lake City," he says. "All of the First teams in Utah watch the video together of what the competition is going to be. The rules are released that day. You get your kit of parts. You get to start building your robot from your kit and anything else you want to add to it. And then you have six weeks, and then you have to put it in a plastic bag, close it up, and until the regional you cannot open that bag."

The teams opened those bags on Thursday, and the FIRST Robotics Utah Regional Competition started Friday. In each match, three robots made by three separate teams competed against another set of three robots. To increase their chance of winning, teams had to learn to collaborate. Each team competed in ten matches during the qualifying rounds.

"So far we're doing pretty well," says Alex Terry with the Salt Flat Circuits, Tooele School District. "We learn different things about our robot every match. You learn, 'Oh, we need to tweak this a little bit, or tweak that there.' And you work with three other teams and try to coordinate with each other to get as much points as possible. It's really fun."

She says at first she wasn't really interested in joining the team.

"I don't really get into that whole robot thing. I thought it was, 'Oh, this is really nerdy. This is geeky.' That's not me."

But her brother competed the year before and her father thought she should give it a try.

"So I came up for a meeting and I went with them to the kickoff. And it actually turned out to be really fun and something I became interested in," says Terry. "It's a lot more than just building a robot and programming it. It teaches you many things you can't describe. It kind of changes you as a person."

That's exactly the goal of the program says Richard Anderson, the FIRST Regional Director for Utah.

"It makes a difference in kids' lives. I was a classroom teacher for 38 years and had a team for five, and I recognized and saw a distinct difference in the kids that went through the program."

Anderson says he's seen many students apply themselves, take harder classes, and have a direction after doing FIRST robotics. The reason why the program is so successful, says Anderson, is because anyone can get involved. While students have to build and program the robots, they also have to find sponsors, raise money, and learn to work with a team.

Terry took on the role of treasurer and also did electrical work on the robot.

For Sheyne Anderson, the technical side of building a robot came naturally. It was the other aspects of being on a team that posed more of a challenge.

"I'm a programmer. I sit in the corner. I type and I do my thing on my own. This has forced me to work with other people and that's really also great."

He has been programming the team's robots since ninth grade. Now a senior, he is team captain this year.

"Probably the most difficult thing is being a leader, but it's also something that I've learned to really love. It was something I was totally afraid of last year."

The international program, now in its 24th year, is backed by industry giants such as Micron and Microsoft. Joyce Peters from Hill Air Force base explains why they sponsor the Utah regional event.

"It brings a pipeline of interested kids into colleges and universities," says Peters. "We have to hire between 150 and 200 engineers and computer scientists every year at Hill. And there's a nationwide shortage in computer and electrical engineering graduates, and there's just not enough kids going into it."

According to FIRST Robotics, students that finish the program are more than twice as likely to expect to pursue a career in science than their peers, and 88% go onto college.

During the heat of competition, most participants weren't thinking about how the event might affect their careers. They just wanted their team and robot to do well, and most importantly to have fun. Six teams advanced and will compete in the FIRST Championship at the end of April in Saint Louis, Missouri. The DaVinci Dragons and Salt Flat Circuits will try again next year.

Alex Terry and the Salt Flat Circuits

Sheyne Anderson and the DaVinci Dragons

“Would you like to see the brain?” Renee Bend asks as she walks briskly down the hall to her lab. Bend has a Ph.D. in neuroscience but her lab isn’t at a university or hospital, it’s at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah. In her first year as a science teacher, she has a full schedule teaching physical science, biology, genetics, and neurosciences to 7^th to 12^th graders.

Showing human brains to tentative middle and high school students wasn’t what Bend envisioned herself doing six years ago. But while researching eyes in tropical fish for her thesis, it became evident that working in a lab wasn’t the right fit for her. “I’d become disenchanted with the idea of research,” says Bend. “I felt it was very slow paced and it didn’t feel important enough to me any more.”

Bend taught undergraduates while working on her degree, and enjoyed it enough to pursue teaching as a career. She found her current position after an advisor suggested she investigate jobs at local high schools. Despite having no experience teaching the age group, it wasn’t as scary as she expected it to be. “It felt pretty natural to be there, and it was where I wanted to be,” she says.

The Utah State Office of Education understands the value of having professionals in the classroom. The Utah Core Standards for science place an emphasis on understanding the scientific process. “[Learning the scientific process] is vital to preparing students to be college and career ready for STEM [Science Technology Engineering and Math] fields,” says Sarah Young, Science Specialist at the Utah State Office of Education. As practitioners of the scientific process, professionals are uniquely suited to bring this valuable skill to students.

To encourage professionals to become teachers, USOE created the Alternative Route to Licensure program (ARL), passed by the Utah Legislature in 2002. In contrast to traditional teaching preparation programs, ARL allows participants to earn their Utah license while being employed in their first teaching job. According to a 2010 report by the National Center for Education Information, the number of teachers across the country certified by such routes has doubled since 2002, reaching 60,000 in 2009. Still, the proportion of teachers who obtain their license through alternative programs is relatively small, estimated at 16 percent in 2009.

Though an increasingly popular choice, taking the fast track to teaching has its disadvantages. “I don’t have the class management strategies that a person that went through the traditional teaching route probably would have,” says Bend who is enrolled in the ARL program. “I would certainly do a lot of things differently from the beginning next year.” For this very reason, the National Education Association issued a statement in 2009 warning that many alternative route programs fail to prepare candidates to be successful educators.

Like a true scientist, Bend addresses the issue by taking note of what works in the classroom as she goes along. Having spent a large amount of time as a student herself, she is acutely aware of the boredom that can set in from being taught by an uninspired teacher. “[I want to] figure out what I can do that would cause someone in my class to think, ‘Wow! I just learned something, that was really interesting’. I think that’s really difficult to do.”

This day, it looks as if she might achieve her goal. As neuroscience students enter the lab, there is anticipation in the air. One young woman exclaims, “I’m so excited, it’s unreal!” Sitting on a benchtop was the preserved human brain. While some students squirm in their seats and try to keep a safe distance between themselves and the moderately smelly pink specimen, others explore it as much as they can, both visually and tactically. “I think you learn more from an hour in the lab than from an hour in the classroom,” remarks Bend.

While not every student will walk away from the neuroscience lab wanting to be a scientist, Bend hopes they will at least gain a new appreciation for science. Ideally, that is what professionals bring to the classroom: an expertise and passion for the subject that will inspire a new generation.

Evan Burgess is a graduate research assistant at the University of Utah who is passionate about glaciers, and the work that takes him to the far reaches of the world. He explains how these massive rivers of ice change over time, and how their demise due to climate change will impact sea levels.

Courtesy of: The Center for Science and Math Education

Many a frustrated student has stared down a page of cramped chemistry notes or a gnarly math set, and uttered the familiar cry, "When am I EVER going to use this?" Standard ways of teaching can make it difficult for kids to understand the real world applications of what they are learning.

Career Technical Education, or CTE, may be one way of getting students on track. These courses offer a feel for the day-to-day realities of professions they may enter. If the words "technical education" conjure visions of shop class and home economics, think again. Nearly half of the nine state-defined CTE areas of study are in scientific or technical fields, including agriculture, health science, information technology, and technology/engineering. The trend is on par with nation-wide projections showing that the fastest-growing occupations are in these fields.

"Our training has changed because the industry has changed," notes Mary Shumway, the State Director of CTE. "Kids need higher level math and science."

Over the last decade, the demand for CTE has been growing. Jordan School District has both the Canyon Technical Center and the Jordan Applied Technology Center. And Tooele opened its own CTE school, Blue Peak High School, three years ago, rather than continue bussing students to other centers.

Real-world learning

The Granite Technical Institute (GTI) in Salt Lake City may be unique for the veracity of the profession-focused role-playing it offers students. The school serves all nine high schools within the South Salt Lake Granite School District. Housed in a former hospital, some of the medical suites have been left intact to facilitate hands-on experience. One even boasts a full dentist's office where would-be dental assistants can put friends and family in the chair, making x-rays and whitening teeth under the tutelage of a practicing dentist.

In the best cases, CTE tightly aligns hands-on practice with academic rigor. Walking through GTI's classrooms, it is not unusual to see health profession students using mathematical methods learned in chemistry or algebra to calculate medication dosages for hypothetical patients.

GTI principal Devon Harley has noticed definite changes in students' investment in learning, "When there is some reason to do it, the kids figure out a way to do it." Referring to GTI's biomanufacturing class, he continues, "They do it because now their mind is saying 'I want to make this chapstick', not 'I'm doing math', and suddenly things fall into place."

This scenario rings true for Charles Emery, a senior at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City. Prior to attending GTI, he was less than enthusiastic about attending his traditional classes. A counselor matched Emery's interest in marine aquariums with a Marine Biology class. The class has proved to be a "definite motivating factor" on his path to graduation. "Anyone interested in a science class won't find a better one," he says. After high school he hopes to attend the University of Hawaii to continue exploring marine biology.

Giving Students a Leg Up

The Biomanufacturing/Biotech Product Design course, taught by Rick Grigsby, exemplifies how CTE classes prepare students for career readiness. He says the course is reverse-engineered based on the needs and requirements of local business. As the students explore medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biofuels, they also learn about federal regulations and marketing considerations.

Grisby says such measures ensure that students will impress future employers and college admissions committees alike. "It's about competition... when they walk into an interview, I want to make sure they're holding aces."

Inspired by Grigsby's class, Sabrina Abdalla, a senior at Granger High School in West Valley, is working with a friend to develop a device that could ameliorate nosebleeds. She cautions that the details of the device are confidential for now, but will be available by her own upcoming graduation, when she plans to have completed the preliminary work needed to start the patent process. "GTI pushes us to go places," she says.

By some measures, CTE appears to be an affective approach. According to Thalea Longhurst, State Coordinator of CTE, 95% of Utah's CTE students graduate from high school, well above the overall state and national average of about 75%. What's more, studies by the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE), show that coordinating CTE and traditional learning leads to better performance over CTE-taking control groups, for example math assessments increased by 8-9%.

However, is it possible that the push for hands-on experience occurs at the expense of the higher level learning needed to be competitive in technical careers? That study has not been done and it remains to be determined whether CTE results in enhanced performance in college, or in the work force.

A 2009 report, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), indicated that U.S. students are falling behind their peers across the globe. Whether CTE is making a difference may have to wait for an answer when the next study is published in December, 2013.

Photo Credit: Devon Hartley

photo credit: Adele Flail

photo credit: Adele Flail

On Saturday, hundreds of high school students got their first taste of being on a college campus, and heard about scientific research that they could one day take part in.  (Katie Basham contributed to this story)

With a shout out, the 24th annual University of Utah Science Day began. The event aims to recruit students to the University and expose them to scientific research. High school students participated in workshops and demonstrations to stir up interest in careers in science, math, and engineering. Hundreds of students showed up, some from as far away as California, Nevada, and Idaho.

"A lot of these science minded students are isolated, you know. Particularly in the rural areas," says Pierre Sokolsky, dean of the college of Science and professor of physics. "They don't have a lot of friends that are interested in science and you bring them out here and all of a sudden they look around and there's like 700 people that are really excited about what they're excited about. That's transforming."

Sokolsky says another goal of science day is to reach out to students who might not otherwise pursue a degree in science. To do that, the University put together 29 workshops and demonstrations ranging from research on whales to how to make objects invisible.

"We have such a strong need for more scientists and engineers, that the growth is going to have to come from that area of kids who aren't quite sure they could do it. And we want to excite their imaginations," says Sokolsky.

About forty students chose to listen to Kirk Ririe, co-founder and CEO of Biofire Diagnostics. He says he went from being kind of a mad bomber kid in rural Idaho, to being a real hardcore biochemistry nerd. Leaving bombs and rockets behind, Ririe is now using his creativity and basic science knowledge to tackle tough medical problems. And that, he told the students, is to figure out what bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi are trying to attack us.

"All of these different viruses and bacteria cause basically the same kind of symptoms. Fever, runny nose, headache, etc."

Ririe says there is a huge need for hospitals to diagnose which of 20 different viruses and bacteria can cause respiratory infections and flu-like symptoms. From experience, he knows how important it is to quickly identify the cause of an infection.

"My uncle went in for relatively routine heart bypass surgery and was dead of an infection the next week. And as the testing cycle went around and around it was basically too late after they got him on the right antibiotic, and he went downhill." Ririe adds, "Finding out what patients are infected with can inform treatment and lead to prompt and timely treatment and really save lives."

This is why BioFire Diagnostics, formerly Idaho Technologies, is developing tools right here in Utah to help doctors diagnose patients with infectious diseases quickly. The test only takes an hour compared to days using current testing systems. Last year they launched FilmArray. The 50-thousand dollar machine and individual use test kits are the first of it's kind with FDA approval.

"It's not like we're the only company working on this. The medical need has been there for a long time," says Ririe. "So there are a lot of companies developing product that are aimed at this same market. But the combination of a comprehensive test, that is really easy to use that a hospital lab can run in house, that just hasn't been available until now.

BioFire Diagnostics isn't stopping with the flu. Similar testing platforms for blood infections, meningitis, and gastrointestinal infections are in the pipeline.

Surprisingly, it was a question about regulations a company like BioFire faces from the FDA that brought on one of the biggest discussion by the students. To get the system on the market, it took close to 60-million dollars and multiple clinical trials. One student asked if BioFire was planning to get approval for their future tests in Europe first. That question didn't surprise Ririe.

"Perhaps at first blush, you wouldn't think that you would get the most insightful comments from high school kids," says Ririe. "It is awesome. High school students get this story like that [snaps fingers]. And they're immediately thinking twenty years down the future. And they have no concept of what the regulatory hurdles might be or the technical hurdles might be, but they see the possibilities."

Jessi Poulson, a senior from Herriman High School, asked if the test could be used in veterinary medicine. Ririe told her eventually it could.

"I found it really interesting. Like I can see how it would really benefit the world and other different medical fields to get this machine. This is pretty cool."

Jessie wants to be a vet and says she came to Science Day because she really likes science and thought it would be a good way to get informed and see what's out there. She's looking at multiple schools, not just the University of Utah. Maybe Saturday's Science Day will help her make up her mind.

Elijah, an imposing 330-pound male orangutan with a sweet face, opens his mouth, turns around, and reaches his arms in the air upon command. But he’s reluctant to put his arm in a plastic sleeve that keeps it still for a blood draw. Two of Hogle zoo’s great ape keepers, Bobbi Gordon and Erin Jones, gently coax him and offer him fruit treats. Eventually their patience and persistence pay off. He cooperates.

“Since we can’t pick them up like we can our dog and cat and take them to the vet, we have to train them to make sure we can get a good look at them everyday,” says Gordon. The apes are trained to allow and assist the zookeepers with brushing their teeth, weighing them, and performing voluntary injections and ultrasounds when necessary.

The caretakers can’t afford to let any aspect of these health checks slide. It was through a routine training session that they first identified a lump in Elijah’s right breast in 2011. This was an astute observation considering he is the only male orangutan known to have breast cancer. He has since gone through two surgeries to remove cancerous tissue, most recently this past summer.

“Through his training we are able to monitor his whole body to look for recurrences of tumors or lumps, and check his behavior to see if he isn’t feeling good during the day,” says Gordon. “It’s been a crucial aspect of his diagnosis and treatment.” Elijah’s cancer is slow growing, and his prognosis is good.

More than for their physical well being, training also keeps the great apes mentally stimulated. “They’re very smart animals,” explains Gordon. “They really like to learn, they really like to be challenged.”

Nothing brings that message home quite like seeing Elijah huddled with his daughter Acara, both glued to a YouTube video that’s playing on an iPad held by Gordon. The non-profit organization Orangutan Outreach provides iPads for orangutans in zoos throughout the country. “When they [patrons] see them, say, using a drawing program on the iPad that they would use, it helps the public start that conversation of how smart these guys are and how important they are to save in the wild,” explains Gordon.

The genomes of humans and orangutans are 97% similar, making them one of the most closely related species to our own. Perhaps in part because the apes are so similar to humans, the zookeepers can’t help but forge an emotional bond with them. “They are my family to a degree,” says Jones. “That relationship is incredibly important to me.” Their office, with windows that peer into the great ape enclosure, is decorated with framed photographs and posters of the very animals they see nearly everyday.

Jones continues with a smile, “I do everything in my power to make sure that they have an awesome day."

Read more: Elijah, Eve, and Acara paint to raise money for their relatives in Borneo

Our D.I.Y. Science booklet puts a local spin on basic scientific concepts, and reinforces them with experiments kids can do at home.

Inside, you'll find:

• Why Rocks Have Layers
  • Experiment 1: Make fossil layers
• DNA is the Building Block of Life
  • Experiment 2: See your own DNA
• Science in the Kitchen
  • Experiment 3: Turn milk into cheese

Download the booklet below under "Download attachments", print it out, and let the fun begin!

Made possible with support from:

• Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development,
• The Brain Institute Lending Library of Learning Resources,
• Utah Brain Awareness Week (coming March 10-16, 2014)

Pumpkin Chuckin’, the closest thing Moab has to a county fair, has also become the competition of choice among regional science students, who vie for trophies and cash prizes. Contestants are judged on chucking distance and accuracy, as well as machine design, sportsmanship and presentation.

Pumpkin Chuckin’ veterans, the Bluff Whippersnappers met with two more weeks to prepare. Dudley Beck, one of the mentors for the Bluff Team describes how the team approached the project, “It’s mostly their design. They went online and researched this on the net, and they came up with the design.”

“The actual building of it, the hands-on building of it, is something I’ve learned. And I’ve used more tools with these guys than I have before,” says Jill Hook, the only girl on the Bluff team.

The youth teams competed in the slingshot and trebuchet categories. A trebuchet is a type of catapult that uses counterweights to add kinetic energy to the shot.

Tarik Tumeh outlines some of the problems the team is trying to solve, “With our new trebuchet, there’s a lot of measurements, and trying to figure out which parts are needed to be how big to make it work, and fitting all that into a blueprint.”

Spencer Beck adds, “We don’t throw as far as some of the other groups, because we have a small trebuchet, but we’re really accurate.”

But why pumpkin chuckin’? The Moab event was inspired seven years ago by the National Pumpkin Chuckin’ Championship, held in Delaware. It’s a fundraiser for Moab’s Youth Garden Project, which maintains a community garden and its own science education program. “It’s kind of this quirky thing that was either going to be a success or not. And people were either going to catch on to it, and love it, or not really understand it,” says director Delite Primus.

And catch on it did. This year the youth division exploded from one to six teams. Over at the Moab High School, the math department started a new team called the Paintball Pirates, which attracted math and science students, including Damian Souell and Damian Pogue.

“It seems like something new, a good opportunity to actually get out there and do something besides just staying inside and playing video games all day,” remarks Souell.

“I just went to the Pumpkin Chuckin’ last year, I saw some of the crazy things they were building and it interested me.,” says Pogue. “Well, just shooting a pumpkin in the air and trying to hit something sounds pretty interesting.”

Their advisor, Math teacher Ryan Hand adds, “These kids are figuring out that the mathematics they are learning in school does have a practical application.”

Another new team, the Thunderbirds, came out of Moab’s Beacon after school program, which has for years had a competitive robotics team. Stephanie Dahlstrom, Beacon’s director, says Pumpkin Chuckin’ was a natural to add to the enriched science program, “We really try to have fun things, and connect that fun with science. They’re learning even when they don’t even know they’re learning.”

The Thunderbirds were among the teams setting up their chuckers and making practice shots the day before the competition. “We’ve been shooting all morning in our exhibitions. We’ve toyed with the design, ran some experiments, and made some hypotheses. We shot it a couple of different ways, and to different tensions, controlling different variables,” says advisor Eric Clapper. “But we haven’t really tried to max this thing out yet because we didn’t want anything to break before we really needed it.”

On the day of the contest, more than 2,000 people gathered at the old airport. Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd, the youth division teams launched their pumpkins. At the final tally, the Thunderbirds held first place for slingshots, the Paintball Pirates were first among the trebuchets, and the Whippersnappers made the longest shot, at 110 feet.