Students in Kathy Feinstein's 10th-grade biology classes at Cheltenham High School aren't studying science, they are doing science.

The students in Feinstein's class last year handed out surveys on smoking issues to all 1,700 students in the school - and nearly 1,000 answered two pages of questions. Her students this year are analyzing the data. Their project, which is supervised by a researcher at nearby Fox Chase Cancer Center, has turned up two preliminary findings that might influence future antismoking campaigns. One: Young people who smoke tend to engage in other risky behavior. Two: Young people who smoke are not more likely to have parents who smoke. Of the respondents, 140 students, or 14 percent, said they smoke; 70, or 7 percent, said they had quit. "This is not cookbook science, where you know the outcome. We will only know what we've found when the kids are finished," Feinstein said Thursday in a classroom interview. "This is research done by teens for teens." Students have learned to put forward a hypothesis, to input and study the data and to state their preliminary findings. In other words, they are not studying the scientific method, they are using it. Britney Carroll, for instance, came up with this hypothesis: "That females 16 and older are more likely to smoke because they're going through so many life changes." And Yuliya Bursakovska took as her hypothesis that "most teens aren't aware of the risks of smoking." Dan Burd wanted to learn why teens keep smoking once they start. "Preliminary results show," he said, using the correct scientific preface, "that stress and addiction are big factors." Feinstein said the students were still "hesitant to draw conclusions" because they hadn't yet finished the data analysis. All the work done so far sets up the students' final project: publicizing their findings for other teenagers. "Writing for a teen magazine would be a great way to get the information out there," student Lindsay Diamond said. "And something in the Cheltonian," another student suggested, referring to the school newspaper. "We really should address the issue of girls smoking," said Bursakovska, who said she was surprised to learn that as many girls as boys reported smoking. Feinstein said teachers may use the students' findings to make changes to the school's antismoking efforts. For instance, they might revise the messages, depending whether they are trying to reach girls or boys. But the main purpose of the two-year endeavor has been to stir up student interest in science as a career. Fox Chase has established partnerships with Cheltenham and other schools in the area with a four-year, $350,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This year, other schools that are participating are Germantown Academy, Abington Friends, Northeast, Central and Bensalem High Schools. Feinstein and Cindy Keleher, director of Fox Chase's Partnership for Cancer Research Education, will give a presentation on the Cheltenham project on Friday at the National Science Teachers Association's national convention. The convention will run Thursday to Sunday at the Convention Center in Philadelphia and is expected to draw about 13,000 educators. Margie Clapper, a Fox Chase researcher, said Cheltenham students decided which research topic to pursue, then she and Feinstein devised the questions. Clapper cited as "the most intriguing" finding that many teens who reported smoking also reported being involved in other risky behaviors such as drug and alcohol use. "That might be the one that opened our eyes - particularly those of us who are parents - that smoking is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of risky behavior," she said. The data also revealed no strong link between parent smoking and teen smoking. "This is unique information from a group of young smokers that can steer us in the right direction in terms of intervention efforts," Clapper said. For Feinstein's students, working on the smoking project appears to beat opening a textbook as a way to learn biology. Bursakovska said what she learned about why girls take up smoking has piqued her interest in psychology and sociology, classes she wants to take next year. Diamond was especially enthusiastic, linking their findings to "helping the community." "I think the information I'm learning is way more important than the grade is," Diamond said.

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