Cash, travel, a planet with your name - being the champs at an international science fair sure is worth all the hard work

The route to success was no walk in the park, say the three students from Bangkok's Triam Udom Suksa School whose project won them two awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair last month in Albuquerque, in the US state of New Mexico.

Besides winning the $3,000 (Bt104,000) first prize in the Team Projects category, Natnaree "Ploy" Siriwon, Korawich "Top" Niyomsatian and Nathaphon "Ball" Supokaivanich, all 18, won an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in the Spanish city of Valencia in September. As if that weren't enough, they'll also have minor planets named after them. The three were recognised for a project that revealed "The secret in the mimosa's leaf-folding pattern", an idea that can be developed to detect earthquakes.

Korawich had noticed that the leaves of mimosa plants fold up when struck by raindrops, and wondered if other stimuli - including vibration - might make them fold in different ways.

He tested the proposition with Natnaree and Nathaphon and realised they had a candidate project for the government's Junior Science Talent Project. Their science teacher, Nipon Srinareumon, served as their adviser over the year they spent completing their tests.

The Mathayom 6 students toiled away at the project every day long after classes, on weekend mornings and during vacations, and no one complained, even amid the pressure of preparing for university entrance exams.

Korawich says they had difficulties because they lacked modern lab equipment and the skills needed to analyse their experiment's results. Looming over everything was the worry that the plants might die, which would send them back to square one.

He's grateful that Ajarn Nipon encouraged them to apply whatever tools were available to ensure accurate results, such as using a medical drip to control the rate of water hitting the plant.

"I sometimes wondered why I was wasting my time doing this while the other kids were out having fun," Korawich says, "but it was worth it because I learned a lot, and I learned responsibility as well."

Natnaree is good at biology and English, so she did the cross-sections of the mimosa tissue samples, researched information and read relevant reports. Korawich is talented in maths and physics, so he found and applied the calculation formulae needed.

Nathaphon used his skill in chemistry to provide the necessary testing solutions, such as Safranin O to test the thickness of cell walls in each part of the plant - a factor in the folding patterns.

Natnaree's engineer father works for the Board of Investment, and her mother is an accountant with the military. Next month she begins her studies at Stanford University in the US. Awarded a Science and Technology Ministry scholarship, she's aiming for a degree in pharmacology.

Natnaree developed an interest in science early on and was involved in various other projects. At the prestigious Triam Udom Suksa School she got to know other science-loving students.

Korawich's father is an architect and his mother a former software programmer. He has a berth waiting in Chulalongkorn University's engineering course this year.

He too was instilled with a love of science at a young age by his parents, and enjoys the discipline of questioning nature's structure.

"I want younger kids to be curious and seek answers for the questions they have, using provable methods - that's a good start to becoming a scientist," Korawich says.

Nathaphon's dad is a pharmacist and his mother helps at the pharmacy he runs. "Ball" is entering Chulalongkorn's Faculty of Medicine this year.

Although his parents encouraged all their children to take an interest in science - buying them books and watching sci-fi movies with them - only Nathaphon took to it. He's chosen medicine at university knowing that his expertise in chemistry will stand him in good stead.

This is Ajarn Nipon's third team at the international science fair - the world's largest pre-college celebration of science - and all three won prizes.

The first was Triam Udom Suksa's "Walking with a Millipede" project, which won the Sigma XI Award in 2004. The same school's project on "Dehiscence and Dispersal of the Popping Pod Ruellia tuberosa L" won second place.

Nipon said his teaching style is to let the students learn through experimenting while he asks questions and offers suggestions. He does not force them to read too much because that could limit their perspective to simply what's in the books.

"I give my students a break when they are tired because I want them to know that a science project should be a fun thing, not a headache," he added.

For more information about the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, visit Sciserv.org/isef.

Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong

The Nation