Welcome to the Science Fair! School, Class or individual student projects are welcome to submit to the GO Mosquito Challenge Science Fair. The objective is for students to conduct original research on a project that addresses mosquitoes- which could address mosquito ecology, mosquito life cycle, or mosquito borne disease. The only requirement is that GLOBE Observer data be included or discussed as part of the analysis. Data can also come from other sources, such as local health departments, community members, and scientific literature.
Prizes will be awarded to classes that have a winning project. The prizes are anticipated to have a value of $50-$100 and are to be used for a class project that is designed to protect their community from mosquito borne disease. If you receive an award you will have to send a short report or video to the project to describe the results or anticipated outcomes of your community project. The community projects can include creating public service announcements (building community awareness), hosting an event to engage another class or adult community members in using the App, buying additional microscopes for class mosquito work, purchasing screens for a school room or public building, – these are just some ideas of scope- you can use the funds for education, outreach, scientific equipment, or practical solutions to a problem in your community.
When you submit your project, it will be uploaded to the project website, and the judges will review them and provide scores using a rubric we have provided. You will hear the results in 7-10 days after the deadline.
Weekly Challenges for May and June 2018
Here are the exciting challenges to have your students participate in to earn badges in preparation for the Virtual Science Fair:
Challenge 1: Make a mosquito trap and put it in your school where you think mosquitoes will breed. Monitor the site using the GLOBE observer app at least two times a week and share the data. Remember that 0 is an important data point! Take images of the students making the mosquito trap and using it. What kind of bait will you use for the mosquito trap? For tips and ideas of how to make a mosquito trap visit:
Challenge 2: Art and Graphics; Create art that can be used in games and education materials we make about GO mosquito. You can submit either drawings, graphic posters or any other art medium that can be used to raise awareness about mosquito borne disease. Ideas and concepts can include but are not limited to;
- image of adult mosquitoes
- mosquito life cycle
- identifying mosquito larva species,
- Importance about removing mosquito breeding sites where you live.
- importance of mosquito control for public health safety
- symptoms and treatment for mosquito borne disease that are in your communities for example Zika vs Chikungunya
- Ways to reduce exposure to Zika and why it is important ( addressing that Zika is the only mosquito borne disease that is also a sexually transmitted disease.
- Understanding mosquito ecology ( difference between behavior and habitats of Anopheles vs aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus)
Challenge 3: Get your school campus ready for the rainy season!
- Using the app search for all the potential mosquito breeding grounds and remove all the containers you can find.
Note: This can also be turned into a Virtual Science Fair project by quantifying the types and amounts of breeding grounds that you have on campus. You can attach a responsibility marker on them to see what is the source of the these mosquito habitats and who is responsible for creating them. You can do a community outreach campaign to try and work with those that create the breeding ground so that they know the impact and prevent more from being created in your community.
Challenge 4: Using the app, collect 3 new data points: quantifying 3 new mosquito breeding grounds that are man-made where you live and decommission them.
Bonus Challenges:
Challenge 5: Branding Challenge: currently we use @GONASA and #GONASA as hashtag to add on images and videos that you have created for social media. Post images on social media of your project either of you using the app and discovering mosquito breeding habitats, identifying mosquito larva species and decommissioning a site. If you have other hashtags that you use at your school please post images on social media with those tags and share them with us!
Challenge 6: Create a 30 seconds or a 1 minute informational video about either of the following concepts.
- showing how to use the app
- How you are using the data collected to protect your communities from mosquito borne disease.
- understanding mosquito ecology ( difference between behavior and habitats of Anopheles vs aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus).