I'm going to be busy judging all day long, so I've scheduled some posts to show you the sort of projects I'll be looking at today. Actually, I'll only be judging -ology projects, but I'll leave you to decide which ones those are.
"Weak Lensing Mass Estimates of Low Redshift Clusters of Galaxies" by Anthony Yunker, Kelsey Lawhorn, and Frances Mei Hardin. The team consists of two juniors and a senior.
"Microfluidic image cytometry to detect PI3K pathway markers in brain cancer" by Jane Suh, a sophmore.
"The effect of visually enhanced medicine labels on recall ability" by Bradley Shields, Taylor McGraw, and Reed Falkner of Oxford, MS. This team tested the use of visual enhancements (geometric shapes and color symbols) as a method for reducing dosage mistakes. They found a statistically significant increase in instruction recall with the visually enhanced labels.
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Thanks for sharing so many of the projects you've seen at the fair! I'm amazed by what these high school students are able to accomplish. I kind of wish someone had encouraged me to enter a science fair competition when I was in high school - I didn't know anything about them or how they work, and they seem like a great experience!
I wish my high school was like that. Unfortunately, science class is not that good, and it is reeeeaaaalllyyy easy for me. As for that kind of project, even though I know a lot of science, I doubt I could do it.
Dear IBY:
All of these students work with mentors, possibly really great science teachers if they are lucky enough to have them, but more often than not they work in a university lab under the supervision of a grad student or postdoc. If you are serious about science and your classes aren't challenging you, I would very strongly recommend getting involved in a project in this manner. If you are unsure as to how to go about that, I'd be happy to help you, just leave me an email where I can reach you.
Ade: That's a very generous offer.
IBY: Not all of these students work in labs, though it's probable that the top two pictured in this post do. Many students benefit from enthusiastic high school teachers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Without at least one scientifically-inclined supporter, it can be harder but its still not impossible. And it sounds like you may have found a mentor here. If you don't want to leave your email in a public place, you can email me at science woman [at] gmail [dot] com and either Ade or I will see what we can do to help. Even if you don't do research in high school, when you go off to college you may find that many more doors open to you. Many science professors and graduate students are eager to have undergraduates help out with research. And it probably won't just be washing dishes.