NHS Science Course Offers Individual Research

By Eliza Hallabeck

The applied science research course at Newtown High School allows students to study a research topic of their choosing, and for NHS senior John Corsi the course has grown beyond the walls of the high school.

“It is a full year course where we pick a topic and research it for the entirety of the year,” said John recently.

With his project created in the course, taught by Timothy DeJulio, John has entered into two science fairs and has applied for a scholarship.

John’s project is called, “Mining For Lost Joules,” a play on words. For the research part of his experiment John said he “grew my own Rochelle salt crystals and tested them for energy output.”

His paper for the project looked at finding energy in unconventional places.

In February John attended his first science fair with his project. “It was a huge event,” he said.

At the end of this month, John will be entering his project into the Norwalk Community College Science Fair, and he submitted the project with a 28-page paper for an application for a Barton Weller Foundation Scholarship.

 John said he is interested in material science engineering for his career.

“I thought [the project] was an interesting way for me to see that kind of work,” he said.

The applied science research course is now in its third year at NHS, and follows the State University of New York (SUNY) Albany’s Science Research University in High School program, according to Mr DeJulio, who also Mr DeJulio also had current course students put together a statement about their project.

“Students work on a variety of subjects ranging from neurobiology to engineering,” he said. “Students compete in science fairs during the second and third year of the program. Two students that took [applied science research] last year participated in the Connecticut science fair. All six students will be presenting their work at this year’s [applied science research] science research symposium on June 5 in the NHS lecture hall. This class teaches critical thinking skills and problem solving that can be used later in life.”

Mr DeJulio said the next year’s applied science research course has one returning student and 14 new entering students signed up to take the course.

Students in the second and third year of the applied science research course are eligible for credits through SUNY Albany, according to Mr DeJulio.