Friday, September 18, 2009

Angiostrongyliasis Presentation

I had butterflies I must admit. It was one of his first major public speaking presentations after all and the first to an audience made up of many adults (about half the crowd).
My apologies for the smaller size/ low resolution quality of these images. In our hurry to leave home to reach the venue on time, we forgot our video camera and had to use our digital camera to capture a video (which is usually of lower resolution). The photos you see below are actually stills from the video.

Not sure if you can see it from the photos but the kiddo had a blast! Regardless of his little stumbles he had lots of fun! He managed to present all he had to say and put in a few unexpected extra statements, with obvious gusto. He answered questions pretty well considering we never practiced that portion of the presentation. He could have been louder and clearer and used a lot more eye contact to engage his audience. I'm hoping he'll learn these tricks in time by watching some of the more experienced kids.

There were about 7 or 8 presenters altogether, ranging from ages almost 7 (kiddo was the youngest) to 13. All clearly deserve a vigorous thump on the back for their very impressive presentations.

Here're some of the resources he used to develop his presentation on Angiostrongyliasis (also known as rat lungworm, a type of roundworm infestation in humans):

  1. Angiostrongyliasis, The Complete Family Medical Guide by Dr Warwick Carter (this is one of his favorite books of all time...well, at least since he was 4-ish)
  2. No more worming around, HHMI Bulletin, August 2009, page 49 or read it here.
  3. What's Eating You? Parasites: The Inside Story by Nicola Davies (a very entertaining read!)
  4. Belly-Busting Worm Invasions! Parasites That Love Your Insides! (24/7: Science Behind the Scenes) by Thomasine E. Lewis Tilden (not directly related to his topic but a good account of how parasites enter the human body, through real-life stories)
  5. This Merck page.
  6. This Animal Planet page has a very dramatic video of the rat lungworm in action. Caution advised when viewing with squeamish young children.

6 comments:

  1. WOOOHOOO!! Well done kiddo!! We're so proud of you!!!

    Glad it went well - now mum can breathe a sigh of relief as well :)

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  2. Good for him! I see a professorial career in his future!

    Lisa in Ontario

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  3. Thank you so much for your kind words ladies :) Kiddo was very happy to hear your comments and this mom IS very relieved. In a few days, it'll all start again as we prepare for next month's presentation!

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  4. He really looks like he's in his element! I wish I had half his confidence, lol! :) Fantastic!

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  5. Congratulations to you both! Suji, you must be having some serious proud mama moments! ☺

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  6. Thank you Michelle, Christina :) I am very proud of him :) I'm glad he is confident enough to do this. You should have seen some of the other kids though. Young and yet very, very articulate on their topics of interest which included building a computer, Roblox, mythical creatures etc! I was so blown away!

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