Chelsea Smart (left) and Aliyah Alchin of Ōhaupō School won Best in Fair for this year's Niwa Waikato Regional Science and Technology Fair. Photo / Kate Durie
Chelsea Smart (left) and Aliyah Alchin of Ōhaupō School won Best in Fair for this year's Niwa Waikato Regional Science and Technology Fair. Photo / Kate Durie
Two young teenagers from a country school have taken top honours in a regional science fair with a simple idea to help the visually impaired.
Ōhaupō School students Chelsea Smart and Aliyah Alchin, both 13, won Best in Fair at the Niwa Waikato Regional Science and Technology Fair for their technology project Feel Your Way.
The project involved building a full-scale model of Ōhaupō School, making it easier for the visually impaired to navigate the school grounds, and they say it could have applications in all sorts of public places.
Every building, tree, pole or potential obstacle was built so that a child with little or no vision could get an overview of the school and could navigate the obstacles safely.
Teacher Valerie Millington said the girls were competing with some well-resourced high schools and intermediates.
“If you think of some of the schools that we beat, most of them have science labs and technology rooms — we have a small room and me,” says Valerie.
The project was inspired by the girls wanting to help people with visual impairments.
“We decided that a three-dimensional model of our school would be best and include different textures. We decided to do this with different textures and tactile surfaces, as they are key for people with vision difficulties as they base their sight off feeling,” Aliyah said.
They were also careful to use bold colours because some people who are visually impaired or have low vision can see bright and bold colours.
They started with an aerial photo of the school and went into the school hall to project it against the board to trace the school as accurately as possible.
The pair also did a test of blindfolding themselves and tried to navigate the school.
“It was very difficult, so when we did this we tried to pick out the main obstacles, like changes in surfaces, drains and levels. We added triangles into the model to caution people to objects like poles. So they know where they are.”
The pair tested the model on a local person who was legally blind.
“He said the model was very helpful for him, as he has kids at this school. He could only remember half of the school from before he was blind. However, the model helped him visualise the other half of the school that he didn’t know,” Chelsea said.
The girls incorporated Braille into the model to let the user feel the texture, in relation to its placement. They also ensured the model would be safe to touch and not cause any pain to the user’s fingers.
The pair did a lot of research for their project and got help from Millington because her mother was blind.
“These girls and their project brought it all back to me, to a time when I grew up with a blind mother who couldn’t see what my needs were. So it was a pleasure to be teaching them. But these kids took off with their project by themselves, owned it and worked hard. I am very proud of them,” Millington said.
The girls have found lots of uses for their idea, including hospitals, shopping malls and main streets.
The girls say they learned a lot of things by taking part in the science fair.
“I am so proud of all the effort that we put in, it really paid off,” Chelsea said.
Chelsea and Aliyah are looking into keeping the model based in the Ōhaupō school office if it is needed for someone in the future.
The project also took out a Class Award — Year 7 and 8 Class 13 Junior Inventions and Technical Innovations. First Place — Year 7 and 8 Class 13 Junior Inventions and Technical Innovations.
They also won a Major Award — Best Invention and Technical Innovations Exhibit.
Ōhaupō School had awards in every category that students entered.
Ella Dela Cruz achieved first place in Year 8 class 5 Material World and won the NZ Institute of Chemistry Award for best junior chemistry investigation for her project Now You ‘C’ It.
Ella Dela Cruz of Ōhaupō School with her project Now You 'C' It', which won a NZ Institute of Chemistry Award for best junior chemistry investigation looking at whether vitamin C decreases over time in a glass.
Monique McDonald and Hannah Cadman placed second in Year 8 class 5 Material World and gained a Special Award in the NZ Institute of Food and Science Technology Award for Best Year 7 and 8 Food Science and Technology Exhibit for their project That’s Cheesy.
Lara Hollinshead and Emilie Paul won highly commended year 7 class 2 Material World for their project Yukky Yoghurt.
Kaiden Greaney and Luke Brier’s project Forceful won first place in Year 7 Class 3 Physical World. Valerie called Te Awamutu College and asked their physics tutor to come and help her teach this group.
Kate Davenport and Kylo Holloway Smith with their project Dye Hard won first place in Year 7 Class 2 Material World and Best Year 7 Exhibit.
Danielle Patterson and Zoe Kite with their project Deterred won Highly Commended in Year 7 and 8 Junior Inventions and Technical Innovations. They made an invention to stop birds from nesting in tractors and cars. This invention involves using peppermint oil as a deterrent and it would be featured in next year’s Fieldays, in the Innovation Centre.
