NYTimes: Intel Competition - Where Science Rules

asteriskea
Wed, 07 Mar 2007 04:40:06 +0000

NYTimes on the Intel Competition: For the third year in a row, both the Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant High School in New York City have been shut out of the circle of 40 finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search.



More high schools around the country are teaching students how to do cutting-edge research, not just imparting textbook science…

The Intel is more than a gimmicky contest that garners publicity for its chipmaker sponsor. It genuinely prompts hundreds of students to plunge into vanguard research. This year, 1,705 students from 487 schools in 44 states entered, said Katherine Silkin, the contest?s program manager. High school seniors in the United States and its territories enter the Intel, though their research often begins years earlier…

The contest, which began in 1941, has been monopolized by New York schools because it had its roots in a local science fair and a cluster of New York personalities. Bronx Science and Stuyvesant eventually figured out the magical formula: Teach your kids to do research; don?t just offer cookbook experiments. Pair them with mentors at hospitals and universities, perhaps working on a small piece of the mentor?s puzzle, so the projects are more than garage-built contraptions. Assign high school teachers as enforcers to help students through rough patches and make sure they meet deadlines…

e-mail and the Internet have reduced the need to travel. And more institutions like the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where Miriam Rafailovich, a professor of material science, has supervised many winners on Long Island, have made themselves available to nearby schools.

In addition, many rural and Southern states have started high school research programs, often building dormitories to attract distant students, as part of efforts to jump-start themselves as incubators of technological innovation. Stanley Teitel, Stuyvesant?s principal, said that he thinks Intel judges are increasingly recognizing this wider spectrum.

?They are not going to allow me to monopolize this competition,? he said, ?and I think that?s wonderful.?