Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students will have the opportunity this week to share the culmination of more than a year’s worth of research and study during the West Central Regional Science Fair and the Senior Research Symposium.
All ASMSA students must complete a Fundamentals In Research Methods (FIRM) project during their time at the school. Students pick a subject in the sciences, mathematics or humanities during the second semester of their junior year. They spend a year conducting research on the subject, preparing a paper and give a presentation on the subject during their senior year.
Students who choose a science or math subject compete in the West Central Regional Science Fair and the Junior Academy of Science. The science fair is affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Students who win first- and second-place overall in the science fair will be awarded an all-expenses paid trip to the Intel ISEF, which will be held May 11-16 in Los Angeles.
Students who choose a humanities subject (literature, arts, history, political science, government, social sciences) compete in the Senior Research Symposium, a separate competition that is held in conjunction with the science fair.
Both the West Central Regional Science Fair and the Senior Research Symposium will be held Wednesday, Feb. 26, through Friday, Feb. 28. Public viewing for the science fair will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in the chapel on campus. Students will be with their projects from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday.
Public viewing for the Senior Research Symposium will be from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Senior English Composition and Junior English Composition labs on the third floor of the Administration Building.
An awards ceremony announcing the winners of each category and the overall winners will be held at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church at 213 Whittington Ave., across the street from ASMSA.
For more information on the West Central Regional Science Fair, visit http://asmsa.me/westregscifair. For more information on the Senior Research Symposium, visit http://asmsa.me/srressym2014.