president of Lingo a technology company in Cyber Hills and Bridget had access to a lot of cutting-edge gadgets It was the reason why almost everyone in school except for the teachers called her Bridget Gadget The purpose of this project is to hone your scientific observation skills Ms Diaz explained You’ll want to pick a topic to observe over a two-week period It can be anything animals plants stars You just need to present a reason for picking your subject Bridget smiled when she saw Emma raise her hand She already knew what Emma was going to ask Yes Emma Ms Diaz said Can we pick our own groups for the project Ms Diaz nodded Yes you can Emma smiled over her shoulder at Bridget and Bridget nodded towards Eric on the left side of the room Their group was set In fact let’s pick groups now Ms Diaz said Gather with your partners and then I’ll explain this more 8
Bridget sprang from her chair and headed toward Emma She waved at Eric to follow her over but he was already on his way Bridget and Eric pulled up chairs by Emma’s table You guys got here fast Emma joked Ms Diaz looked around the room Okay so we have one group of two Ms Diaz said looking at Grant Jung and Ella Reynolds who sat so close to each other that Bridget had to look twice to make sure they were sitting on separate chairs Grant and Ella were dating They held hands at lunch and in the hallway Every time Bridget saw them she couldn’t help but feel a little weird about it She’d heard that some kids in the sixth grade were already dating Bridget had a crush or two herself but she didn’t think she was ready to date Besides she doubted her dad would even allow it She was glad none of her friends were dating either Okay I guess it’s okay to have one group of two Ms Diaz said after a moment Ms Diaz let the groups brainstorm what they would like to observe for the project 9
What about the foxes in Williams Park Emma said after a minute I’ve seen them in my backyard and it’d be fun to learn how they survive next to an urban area Bridget squinted at Emma mulling over her idea How could she connect fox observations to technology so they could enter their project in the Technology in Science Fair Sounds great Eric said But aren’t foxes scared of people Will we be able to get close enough to observe them They usually run away if they see me Emma said Wait Bridget said as a spark of a thought entered her mind Maybe there’s another way to observe the foxes Like setting up a hidden camera Emma asked Bridget nodded slowly Yeah or maybe using a drone 10
2 Robotic Research A drone Emma’s eyes widened Really Bridget nodded A drone would be perfect and several tech companies had created research drones Using a drone would also qualify their project for the Technology in Science Fair A drone with a camera to observe foxes Eric said thoughtfully Do you actually have anything like that Gadget Well no Bridget admitted But let me check with my dad I thought Lingo developed some sort of drone a couple years ago And just think about it We could get video footage of the foxes in their actual habitat not just in Emma’s backyard It would be amazing 11
