St. Margaret’s grade 8 student Madye Arundale was honored at the California State Science Fair last week, taking third place in the cognitive science category for her experiment on animation frame rates and memory retention.

Madye created a short animation “Fox and Bear,” which won a gold medal in the National Scholastic Art & Writing awards. She used that film to test memory retention among subjects by playing it at two different frame rates—3 frames per second and 24 frames per second--and afterward quizzing the subjects on details from the film.

The results showed that the higher frame rate made it easier for subjects to retain information.

“Because of this information, it can be determined that educational or classroom videos can use a higher frame rate film to increase efficiency in remembering it and learning from it,” she wrote in her conclusion.

Her project placed third out of 20 projects entered into the junior division of the California State Science Fair in the cognitive science category.  She was awarded a medallion and a $75 cash prize.

Grade 8 students Espen Garner and Sophia Hussman also had entries in the California State Science Fair. All three took first place at the Orange County Science Fair in March to qualify for the state competition.