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<p>Yup…maybe I’m a suspicious person, but when I read the titles of those Intel projects, I wonder where they could possibly be getting the equipment and information necessary–we sure don’t have the kind of necessary supplies in our basement, or our high school!</p>
<p>I think some of the kids with the top Intel projects are alumni of [Research</a> Science Institute](<a href=“http://www.cee.org/rsi/index.shtml]Research”>http://www.cee.org/rsi/index.shtml), and they got access to the cool facilities after being vetted by that program. My son (seventh-grade-age homeschooler) goes to his first science fair this weekend. His project is on Greek fire–not something that my wife or I have ever researched professionally–and he found specific project mentors by writing emails, with some help from a science fair alumna who runs a science fair mentoring project in our town. I don’t know of another town that has a program quite like the one we have here that introduces kids to the science process at middle-school age, but there are definitely alumni all over the country who, if found, could provide valuable tips on starting and developing projects that are truly student-initiated (Greek fire was wholly my son’s idea for a project, and had to get past a phalanx of approval procedures) and student-done.</p>
<p>nedad,
How right you are. And even those of us who might not recognize “million-dollar [lab] equipment” unless the price tags were still on, have lived long enough to distinguish an adult designed, lettered, & worded layout, or a contraption requiring adult strength, finesse, & tools to complete. Thank goodness neither of my D’s is in science, attempting a selective college admission. Lacking those connections of which you speak, they would not have entree to the special science opportunities [research, contests, etc]. I note, however, that one of D#1’s classmates, not with such access, attended multiple science workshops over a couple of summers, in specialized fields, & has been admitted to an extremely top school.</p>
<p>I have always thought that science-oriented parents should be mentors, advisors to all the middle-schoolers in their S’s & D’s classes, holding workshops to walk them through science fair projects periodically. The projects could be partially done, kept at school. More equitable, i.m.o.</p>
<p>Whenever I think of science fairs I think of the movie, “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.”</p>
<p>nedad, perhaps you’re referring to Emily Rosa? I don’t know whether she’s a Harvard student, but she DID go to Harvard as an 11 year old – to give a keynote speech at the 1998 Ig Nobel Awards. Her comments were about her efforts to replicate the work of that year’s winner of the IgNobel for Science Education.</p>
<p>From the IgNobel website: <a href=“http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-98.html[/url]”>http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-98.html</a>
“The other keynote speaker, eleven year-old Emily Rosa, forgave the prize committee for not awarding her an Ig, noting that her work debunking therapeutic touch [see JAMA, 4/1/98] should not and cannot be reproduced, and is therefore ineligible.”</p>
<p>This was one of the greatest Ig Nobel Awards ceremonies ever. Troy Hurtubise won the Safety Engineering Prize for his duct tape Bear Suit, and former IgNobel laureate Don Featherstone (who won the Art prize in 1996 for inventing the pink plastic flamingo) showed up to model in a duct tape fashion show.</p>
<p>Wish I’d been there.</p>
<p>Tokenadult–what is Greek fire?</p>
<p>Greek fire is the traditional historical name for a burning substance that was squirted out of ships of the Byzantine empire onto enemy ships, which, according to historical accounts, could burn on water. Its exact formula was a military secret and apparently eventually forgotten. I remember being fascinated by the idea of a lost military secret when I read about Greek fire in recreational reading as a kid, but I never had my son’s gumption to put together a science fair project to experiment with various flammable chemicals to find out how it might have been made. </p>
<p>There’s a [cool</a> recent book](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/158567348X/learninfreed]cool”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/158567348X/learninfreed) about ancient chemical and biological warfare that has given my son a lot of the historical information he has relied on in his project.</p>
<p>Tks tokenadult, for the explanation. Sounds like a fascinating project for your son!</p>
<p>Good Lord. Where is he going to be doing the experiments? Not in the basement–do you have gas for cooking/heat? </p>
<p>My son did a science project where he built a radio that could get a signal without batteries or electricity. It cost a fortune to make because of the long copper wire, and had to be grounded to something which was our furnace I believe. In order to get a direct route to the thing he took out an electric outlet and ran the grounding wire to the basement that way which just about scared me out of my wits to see that wire going into that outlet. He did the same thing at school which had the administration there scurrying. Last year S3 was putting together a vacum pump for his experiment. He almost put me under when he came upstairs with bruises on his arm and face. They were fooling with the pump which sucks the blood up like a bruise when applied to the body so all three boys looked beat up. All I could think was what if they got an eye. But I don’t think the Greek fire is going to make the science projedt list here.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m back from the first science fair I’ve ever seen. To answer Jamimom’s question, my son had to look a LONG time before he found a chemistry professor whose lab had a flame hood in which he could do his experiment. That was very inconvenient, and I think my son will try a project next year that doesn’t involve flammable chemicals, because of all the prior approval requirements imposed to ensure safe experimentation. </p>
<p>There was one other display at the science fair with flames depicted on the display board, but that display was about a project on indigestion. ;)</p>