66th Annual STS (2006-2007)
Finalists
Natalie Avella Cameron

NEW YORK
Natalie Avella Cameron, 17, of Westbury, studied the effects of instructional intervention regarding teacher ambulation (walking around in the classroom) and student seating position on student on-task behavior, achievement and motivation for her Intel Science Talent Search project in behavioral and social sciences. Natalie recorded experimental and control group classroom sessions on videotape, sampled the data and analyzed it using three research methodologies. She believes her findings show that teacher ambulation had a positive effect on the learning environment, student on-task behavior, achievement and motivation. She also found that students who sat in the front and center of the room scored higher on achievement tests and were more on-task than students who sat in the back or sides, however, students in the rear were more motivated. Natalie is an accomplished flutist and has studied dance at the Alvin Ailey school. The daughter of Douglas Cameron and Dr. Jane Avella, she is first in her class of 210 at Walter Tresper Clarke High School. Natalie hopes to attend Columbia or Princeton and dreams of owning a medical facility where she can treat patients using her knowledge of medicine, music and dance.