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National Science Teachers Association Names ExploraVision Contest Winners

• By Kevin Hudson
• 05/06/13

The Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision program has named the winners of its 21st annual contest, which encourages students from kindergarten through high school to imagine and propose inventions that could exist within the next 20 years.

This year's four first-prize teams received $10,000 in United States savings bonds (at maturity) and, along with the four second-place teams, an expenses-paid trip with their families, mentors, and coaches to Washington, D.C., June 5-8, 2013.

Award weekend activities for the eight teams will include a Congressional Science Fair where they will meet with members of Congress, a science showcase during which the students will display and demonstrate their winning ideas, and an appearance at the National Press Club. The weekend will conclude with an awards banquet where students will be formally recognized for their accomplishments.

The four winning teams by grade level are:

• L.D. Batchelder School's team, of North Reading, MAwon the K-3 category for their project, The SIGHT System;
• The award for grades 4-6 went to a team from Chapman Hill Elementary School in Salem, OR for their SMART Moves proposal;
• An idea for a Food Allergen Detector, earned students from Kilmer Middle School in Vienna, VA first place in the grade 7-9 category; and
• San Jose, CA's Bellarmine College Preparatory team took first place among students in grades 10-12 for their project, Immunotargeted DNA-based Nanostructures for the Delivery of the Pro-Angiogenic VEGF Protein to Revascularize Infarcted Myocardium.

Students on second-place teams will each receive a savings bond worth $5,000 at maturity along with the expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. in June. The four second-place teams are:

• The Lice-A-Nator, proposed by students in the K-3 category from Kingsley Elementary in Evanston, IL;
• The second-place prize for grades 4-6 went to the L.E.A.D.S. project, proposed by students from Mitchell Intermediate School in The Woodlands, TX;
• Grade 7-9: The Opti-Arm-An Optical Interface Prosthetic Device earned second place for grades 7-9 for students from The Alternative School for Math and Science in Corning, NY; and
• Students from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, FL won second place among students in grades 10-12 for their S2I project.

Three of last year's winning teams were also asked to participate in the White House Science Fair hosted by President Barack Obama February 7, 2013, marking the third year that ExploraVision students were invited to the event.

The Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision program is the world's largest K –12 science and technology competition, according to an organization release. The program is underwritten by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association.