Two Kennedy seniors headed to Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

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Kennedy High School senior Sarah Moussavi, 17, took on one of neuroscience’s most perplexing, and intriguing, questions: How certain are humans in their own decision-making? To reach a conclusion, she conducted a computer-controlled experiment at the NYU Center for Neural Science.

Meanwhile, classmate Steven Obadiah, 17, president of Kennedy’s senior class, treated cotton plants at Hofstra University with a variety of chemicals to see whether it was possible to increase cotton fiber production. More cotton per plant, after all, means less farmland needed. As it turned out, Obadiah was able to grow more fibers with precisely the right combination of chemicals and water.

Both Moussavi and Obadiah had papers on their studies accepted at the Long Island regional competition of the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, a national contest sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy. The two are among 150 semifinalists in the competition. More than 400 students from across Long Island applied.

Now Moussavi and Obadiah must present their papers before panels of experts in their fields at York College in Queens on Feb. 7. Winners of that stage of the contest will move on to nationals, to be held in Dayton, Ohio, from April 27 to 30.

Sarah Moussavi
Humans are, no doubt, curious beings. We are, we believe, the only creatures capable of thinking about our own thinking. We muse over our thoughts. We question them. We pick them apart. It’s a branch of psychology known as metacognition. American psychologist John Flavell coined the term in 1979. It means cognition about cognition, or thinking about thinking.

Moussavi wanted to conduct a metacognition research project. One warning about her work: For the uninitiated, it can be a tad confusing — but isn’t all of psychology?

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