By Ed Simmons, Jr.
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They wondered.
They investigated.
And their intriguing research projects stirred things up at the Virginia Junior Academy of Science Conference held at Hampton University on May 20 through 22.

Three Caroline seniors – Courtnie Bowie, Lisa Carter and Andy Satterwhite – were awarded silver medals, while earning honorable mention were Justin Castillo, David Green and Julie Grissom. All are students at the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School at the Bowling Green.

In addition, Bowie and Carter have been invited to present their research to the Senior Academy of Science which is a special honor to the best projects.

Moonlit nights
Courtnie Bowie from Sparta called her scientific inquiry “Effects of Moon Phases on Whitetail Deer’s (Odocoileus virginianus) Movement and Feeding Habits." To study the deer, she set up a motion-activated camera between June and September which photographed the deer and recorded the date and time. She concluded that deer were most active during the full moon, though she felt her data may have been influenced by the planting of a soybean crop in a nearby field and that mating season was drawing near.

She's going to Christopher Newport University to study biology to prepare for becoming an x-ray technician.

With the help of music
Lisa Carter wanted to know how music affects studying, calling her project "The Effect of Background Music on Cognitive Performance in Gifted Students." She played three different types of music – Country, Classical and Heavy Metal – in both slow and fast selections while students took analogy tests, solved math problems and worked a maze.

Her results suggested that music helps people who have a high math intelligence. However, it seemed to hurt those with high musical intelligence. Carter, from Ladysmith, is headed to Mary Washington to study theatre and film.

Heavy Metal and green beans
Andy Satterwhite, of Chilesburg, teamed with two King William students on a project called "The Effect of Sonic Treatments on the Growth of Phaseolus Vulgaris." In other words, they wanted to see how sound affects green beans, specifically the sounds of Heavy Metal and a back massager, as opposed to silence.

They found that green beans thrived on Heavy Metal, growing faster and taller, while the sound of a back massager hurt them.

Satterwhite is going to Rappahannock Community College then transferring to Virginia Tech to study environmental engineering.

Catching a ruler
Juan Castillo designed a study called “Improvement in Spatial Memory and Hand-Eye Coordination with Repeated Practice: A Comparison of Athletes and Non-athletes.” He worked with 20 students using a questionnaire to determine who was an athlete and who was not. Then, one by one, he dropped a ruler without warning and had them catch it, recording the results.

After this he ran everybody through a hand-eye drill and again gave the ruler-drop test.

He found that the athletes scores improved, concluding that "athletes are better at getting better – they're more trainable."

Castillo, from Ladysmith, will be studying architecture at Virginia Tech.

Growing tomatoes
David Green worked on a "Comparison of Growth Rates between Tomato Plants in Hydroponics and Soil-based Methods.”

He planted tomatoes in an organic soil mix and pumped in water and nutrients, keeping the soil moist without flooding the roots – in other words, a hydroponic method.

His other tomato plant he grew in regular soil watered in a standard fashion and with Miracle Gro.

The plants grown with hydroponics did the best. Green said he'd like to do a second study to see how the increased yield compared to the cost of the hydroponic system.

Green, who lives in Ruther Glen, is going to Christopher Newport to study computer science and become a programmer.

Studying goldfish intelligence
Julie Grissom's projected studied the “Retention Rate of Maze Memorization in Conditioned Goldfish.”

She took a standard aquarium and divided into compartments with corrugated plastic sheets that each had a hole large enough for a goldfish to pass through. Then, using food as a lure, she trained the goldfish to find their way through the maze.

She timed them. After that, she waited a number of days and timed them again. She repeated this several times.

"The goldfish seemed to forget," she concluded.

From Lake Caroline, Grissom is bound for V.C.U. where she wants to study animation, hoping to one day work for Disney or perhaps design video games.