Science project tackles the sensitive topic of FAS and wins at national science fair
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 01/01) - An Inuvik high school student jumped through regulatory hoops to take on a sensitive science project this spring but it paid off.
Candace Ciboci, 16, explored fetal alcohol syndrome in the North and ended up competing against hundreds of kids from all over Canada.
She came away from Queen's University In Kingston, Ont. with honourable mention (fourth-place) in the life sciences category at the national science fair, held there May 13 to 20.
"Everywhere in Canada it is a problem but I did it specifically for here because I'm from here," Ciboci explained.
Hundreds of kids swarmed the campus, many on mentorship programs with scientists and lab research groups in the south.
The showroom was filled with display boards and beakers, and high-tech projects accompanied by the students who produced them. A voice-activated robotic hand caught Ciboci's attention.
It may not have been so fancy, but her project drew spectators with its dramatic conclusion.
"Younger kids just walked by but the adults and teachers stopped and asked questions," Ciboci said.
She came across a two-year-old FAS study done in the Delta by a B.C. researcher and decided to follow up on it. The initial study was not received well, according to Stacy Applejohn, Ciboci's science teacher, because it exposed kids with FAS problems.
Still, with Applejohn's help Ciboci attended meetings with the district education authority and the Beaufort-Delta Education Council to get access to test scores of kids with FAS.
"Basically all we could do was get permission to get (Canadian Achievement Test) scores pooled together," Applejohn said. "(The results) are frightening, to put it mildly."
Once the public documents were given up it was easy to see that 70 per cent of the test scores obtained were well below average.
"It is a great learning experience to pick a project like that," Applejohn said.
The result of the high school science project now has the Grade 11 student questioning the education system in which FAS kids are taught.
Ciboci said they are brought up through the system and nothing is really done about their decreased learning capacity until high school.
"So, you're in classes where people need extra help and there is only one teacher and about 20 kids," she said. "I think it should be different."
Ciboci said she does not know exactly how to change that but suggested separate, special programs in schools for kids with any kind of syndrome or disorder where they are taught one-on-one.
"Once they get to Grade 10 they fail because they might still be learning at a Grade 1 level," she added. "I know it is like that here."
