Great stuff here!


http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/08/techonomy-erika-benedictis-automatic.html


http://www.cogito.org/Articles/ArticleDetail.aspx?contentid=17947

15 years old and curing cancer. Haha. Wow.

The Richardson-Irving-Alliance triangle is the next Silicon Valley.

I have been thinking about Intel recently. D15 did a great insect collection (she won a trip to the state fair with 4H) this summer. I remember reading about a kid who won a top prize at Intel several years ago with a project where he discovered something unusual about the patterns on butterfly wings. I was especially impressed because he clearly did this work all by himself and under his own motivation, he wasn't working in a parent's lab or anything like that. I Googled to try to provide D with the info, but can't find anything... Does anyone else remember this, or know anything about it?

By the way, insect collecting is a GREAT activity for gifted kids. Although D doesn't love some of the "ickier" bugs, it is a very complicated and interesting hobby. She said at first she would only do it for this summer, but even though her collection is off at the fair now, she is still chasing after bugs with her net, and lamented that she didn't take her collecting containers on a recent vacation in another state because she saw some interesting insects.

Intparent,

Google "insect robots" and "robot butterfly."

Lots of good stuff there.

My DS14 participated in this year's Intel ISEF, and I have to say it was a fabulous, life-changing event for him. The prize money won was great, the science celebs he got to meet were impressive, and the chance to present his research made him feel really proud of himself, but by far what he'll remember most about the weekend is the huge group of kids he met from all over the world. They went to (age-appropriate and supervised) parties, traded pins, played games, hung-out, and learned so much from each other. The opportunity to share his passion with others who "get it" was priceless. Despite differences in culture, politics, and other stuff, their mutual love of science truly made it seem like a big family reunion. The kids who win the big money prizes are truly astounding and so very deserving (I didn't even understand most of their projects), but even for those who compete for the smaller awards, or who go just for the experience, will walk away having had the time of their lives.

I have a quick question for those of you who have done "fancy", not "testing out various home items" type experiments. DD14 *loves* science, but she never gets passed on any of the topics she is interested in because they are "too complicated." One of her friends (*very* smart, grade below) somehow got access to a lab to do experiments in, one of them being a topic she (my daughter) was very interested in. She lost motivation due to the 'stupid' topic she had to use, and ended up pretty much making up results, since she already knew what would happened. How did you guys get a lab? (if you did) The school doesn't have anything to use, and we are totally lost about how to go about getting a place.
The way it sounds, the kids who have parents that are doctors/scientists are always going to get the top prizes, even at the school/local levels, because they can do higher level experiments. Of course, there are always exceptions- the one with the butterflies, for example. We are in a very competitive north texas school district..

BL, we have that same problem. Unless your kid is a super self-advocate who is willing to go out and ask local professors or scientists about doing projects, the odds are that they won't get the chance to do some of that cool stuff. My kid is NOT the self advocating type. The only thing I can think of is for you to ask the science teachers at the school if they have any contacts or could help your daughter find a lab to work on one of the more interesting topics.

Ignoring the science fair/project stuff, I am watching for summer camp opportunities that give her a chance to do lab work beyond just basic course work. I am hoping that THINK at Davidson offers a course next summer that involves lab work. But once she ages out of THINK (and she just has one more year), we will probably look at for summer programs that have interesting lab components.

My goal is to help light that fire again on science stuff. She LOVED science in elementary school, but didn't have such a great experience in that vast wasteland/marking time experience that is middle school. She perked up regarding science once she got to ninth grade, but not with the same passion she used to have for it. She would make a great scientist.

The one thing that makes one kid stand out from others is that they finished what they started. Another is that they moved from a smaller project to a slightly bigger and harder project then to a slightly longer and harder project. They also explored a field in depth. They developed a bag of tools along the way.

There are several analogies. Consider the sports star who spends 2-4 hours a night practicing and another 2-4 hours a night studying tapes and learning from books. Or, consider the pianist who spends 2-4 hours a day working on one long piece, breaking it down, then integrating it, working it over and over. Or the actor in a long play learning each scene, then adding to the performance night after night.

Expanding one's knowledge in a given area means to learn as much as you can about a subject, then when you find questions no one knows, you then spend the time to formulate your own answers. Parents and other adults can help by providing guidance on being organized, on developing an overall roadmap, setting up a place to work uninterrupted, help them to pace themselves and to provide patience, and help kids to find mentors and access to information, but ultimately the kids need the enthusiasm from inside.

Most of what passes for "science" in public schools is not science. Science is testing hypotheses. All the stuff taught has already been proved a long, long time ago. F=ma - duh. It is empty brain calories.

Kuhn had some thoughts on science that pertain to this discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions


Real research means disproving hundreds of ideas until you find one that might work. It is a struggle.

With today's internet, you do not need a lab. You just need a good pc and need to know how to program. You also need a good math foundation. Then you can do original work in many fields or collaborate on lots of open projects.

This field is literally exploding:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPGPU

The basic tools to do science are programming, lots of math, and the ability to read a book and then do the problems. For instance, if I wanted to learn how to do something, I would go find some graduate level classes in that subject, look up the textbooks used, then work to understand everything in them by studying them. If I had some math issues, I would step back, find some texts on that math subject, master them, then move forward. I would also get some software programs on that subject and play with them to learn all I could. I would also find out if there were local interest groups that met or online forums or national or regional meetings. If you know your stuff and have a deep interest in it, then you will make connections and learn more.

That's true. �I had kind of the same thought when I read about the teenage entrepreneurs in silicon valley. �They made successful businesses. �Their parents gave them 10,000 - 100,000 start up capital and they had mentors. �Still, not everybody can succeed given that same opportunity or else it wouldn't have been newsworthy. �
That's probably why all the research into gifted development seems to revolve around identifying underrepresented minorities and re-writing tests to identify a broader talent base. �But what can you do with them once you've found them? �You don't have a job or fancy lab equipment to offer every worthy student in the world.
But it's still great what these kids did with their opportunity. �There's grown men with college degrees running businesses into the ground, yet these high-schoolers were successful. �And still- 15 yrs. old and curing cancer already. �Wow!
Maybe somebody could research if underprivileged kids do less with their lives because of lack of resources, or if the lack of resources creates a lack if vision, that they just never feel free to �develop a dream and pursue it. �If that's the case maybe reading more fantasy books would help.

One of our regional high schools' students consistently place highly in Intel and Seimen's competitions. The top prize a few years ago went to two students who worked over a summer and then the fall term with a major researcher at the prestigious medical school nearby. No doubt, these kids are very talented. They were fortunate to have terrific mentors in the PI of the lab and a graduate student who taught them a great deal. So, while the projects are judged on the students' presentations, it helps tremendously if the students conduct research in a high-power lab with NIH funding and a project already in later stages of development. This particular high school essentially matches interested students with mentors at the university/medical school in town. The facilities available to these kids cannot be matched by doing experiments at home, or even in a lab at school. Sophisticated gene sequencing, PCR, Western blots, etc, are not something you can do in your basement. Occasionally, there are big winners with home-grown projects, but if you look at the top projects, they often are supported by major facilities and grants in medical schools or university-based research labs. That's not to say a home-grown project wouldn't be worthwhile.

My D's teacher at her summer talent search program mentioned the Young Epidemiology Scholars program. It's something to consider, although you have to be in 11th and 12th grade I believe. When I looked at the projects, my impression was that these could be done by students without a lot of equipment or materials. You might want to check into it.

Au Contraire!! One person's trash is another's treasure!!

I see Thermal Cyclers on EBAY for less than $500. A kid could easily do PCR in their basement.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&...mal+cycler&_sacat=See-All-Categories

A tremendous amount of data is archived and publicly available - you don't need machines to get gene sequences these days. Just download it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/guide/dna-rna/

If there was no grant money, what would people work on? What would be the really interesting questions and how would you get to the answer on the cheap?

You do not need big money to get big results. Just some hard work, imagination, and some support from those who like you or love you.

OK, let me clarify - it's difficult to do intense basic science research properly without the appropriate facilities, and someone to teach you how. Specifically for Intel and Seimen's, the top prizes usually go to students with mentors.

The kids who won the top prize ($50,000) a few years ago in our area got a big write-up in the paper. Their high school has contacts at the medical school and the school found their mentor for them. The kids did a lot of work, and when they went into competition, they didn't have the PI of the lab with them - they had to answer questions on their own - but they had very polished work that was professionally sponsored. They worked every day over a summer, multiple hours, in the lab with the PI and graduate student.That is a huge advantage specifically in these two competitions.

At one time in my life, I was required to do research. I was able to publish a study at the end of my allotted time, and most of my colleagues didn't publish. The major difference was my mentor, who immediately introduced me to the right literature to review so I wasn't lost in a sea of primary sources. It's not so much money that's needed - it's a person to point you in the right direction, to help you ask the questions that are answerable in a certain timeframe and with certain resources, and that is invaluable.

Getting back to Bassettlover's question - I think the YES competition may be an avenue for a student without a "lab". I'm just starting to look into this - we have a number of years before my kids would be eligible - but the projects seem reasonable for a smart kid with fewer resources. Just my observation.