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Frontiers
Bayer/NSF Awards Encourage Science-in-Action
July/August 1998
The winners of this year's Bayer/NSF Awards for
Community Innovation, a national competition designed for middle-school-age
students, were announced in June. This award program is a unique effort
that encourages schoolchildren to nurture their problem-solving and scientific
skills and to apply those skills to solving a particular problem in their
own local communities.
The first place prize went to the Las Vegas, Nevada, team, for their proposed "Back
Belt," a safety harness to clamp onto swings, thus preventing injuries resulting
from falling backward. The second place project, submitted by the Cold Spring
Harbor, New York, team, involves educating students about the proper use
of backpacks to avoid injuries. The third place team, from Atlanta, Georgia,
will create a computer tracking system to make academic records accessible
to schools attended by homeless and transient students. In addition to savings
bonds awards for all three teams, the Atlanta team received a grand prize
of $25,000 to implement their community project.
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