Fifth Annual Annenberg Science Symposium-- 2009

  This year's presentations are on March 12, 2009

at Bryn Mawr Hospital's Pennypacker Auditorium

at 7 pm

Background:

The Annenberg Science Symposium is a highly selective program designed to

promote discourse among high school science students in the

Delaware Valley.  Eleven schools are participating in this year's event, and each has

been challenged to explore a scientific advancement that has or will have

an impact on society.  Each group of students will prepare a 20 minute

presentation including a power point slide show, as well as a creative interpretation of their topic. 

"Advancements in Prosthethic Devices"

The human body is one of the most studied and yet most mysterious machine known to man. Hence, replacing parts of the human body is an immense engineering challenge. The science of prosthetics, artificial limbs, attempts to do this. We have advanced a long way from peg legs and other crude devices, to complex limbs that look identical to the real things and give the patient significant mobility. Nonetheless, there is still a long way to go in developing better techniques to replace body parts.

However, as technology improves, there are other problems. The more advanced a prosthetic is, the more it costs. Society needs to find a way to pay for artificial limbs, and determine how many “bells and whistles” it is fair to burden taxpayers and insurance companies for. Additionally, many patients who need artificial limbs are veterans, to whom society is indebted. As well as funding research and fixing problems with insurance, the government needs to determine what kinds of special treatment veterans are entitled too.

In addition to problems with cost, patients need to learn to live with artificial limbs. The loss of a limb is traumatic in and of itself, but an artificial limb may serve as a daily reminder of that trauma, meaning that some patients may choose aesthetics over functionality. Lastly, these limbs raise some bio-ethical issues for society, such as when athletes have artificial limbs. While an artificial limb is generally not as good as the original, it can sometimes be more useful in specific ways, raising questions of fairness—is having “too good” a prosthetic akin to steroid use?

Even though science has made enormous progress, there is still a ways to go both in developing better prosthetics determining how to treat those who need them.

Third Annual Annenberg Science Symposium-- 2007

"Fueling America's Future:  Is Ethanol for US?"

 

Barrack Hebrew Academy's Team:

Our team consists of the 10 top 9th grade Honors Biology students

Lead by 2 fantastic 10th graders who competed in last year's symposium

The team is moderated by Ms. Genille Parham and Ms. Rhonda August

Dates to Note:

• Our competition was on Thursday, March 22, 2007

At Bryn Mawr Hospital

Links:

Annenberg Foundation Website

   PowerPoint used to support the skit presentation:  The skit had the Ghost of Energy visit the President of the United States to show how the energy used in the present and the past has lead to our current energy crisis.  The President led by the Ghost of Energy then visited two alternatives, Energy Future Positive and Energy Future Negative.  The skit ended with our President presenting a plan in a State of Union Address to reach the positive energy outcome.  The students were presented with the award for Best Presentation on Conservation of Energy and Future Planning.