Links

Those of us committed to young people’s explorations in science, technology, engineering and math can find wonderful resources in our region and across the nation.

Key Links for Ying TRSEF & ISEF

International Science & Engineering Fair
Locate Regional Fairs; ISEF Science Project Primer.

Science Buddies
The most complete resource for science fair projects, from choosing your topic to handling safety issues to making the poster. You can even watch videos by scientists and engineers or submit questions to “Ask the Expert” forums!

Organizations

Society Of Automotive Engineers; “A World in Motion”

Applied Math & Science Education Repository

Other Assets

A Piece of the Puzzle
This video helps explain science fairs to students thinking about a project, administrators needing to understand why staff time should go to this effort, PTO/PTA groups so they can get excited about sponsoring a school fair, the local IEEE chapter so they can come on board as judges, and the CEO of a local company so s/he can write a check and fund your fair or provide some awards. Created by New York City producer Patrick Finlon, A Piece of the Puzzle is available to every teacher and fair committee member inspiring our young people to become scientists and engineers.

Cyber-Fair
University of Nebraska at Lincoln has chosen the cyber-fair as its way to encourage youth to explore STEM careers. Please note that what we may think of as separate organizations can be combined harmoniously – a science fair and a robotics competition. A predecessor organization included the following information, which I think is worth keeping (the old Mankato CyberFair). Here is a clear presentation of “Five Key Ways to Develop One’s Own Research Topic”:

  1. Look at lists of science categories and pick one that interests you. Then narrow that down to a project, e.g., if you pick psychology, narrow it to the differences between boys and girls, then to a topic like “Do boys remember boy-type pictures (footballs) better than girl-type pictures (flowers)?”
  2. Use your experiences. Remember a time you noticed something and thought “I wonder how that works?” or “I wonder what would happen if…” Then turn that into a project.
  3. Check the school library’s science section. Browse and look at book titles, then look inside ones that look interesting to you. Thumb through encyclopedias and magazines. Good magazines for ideas are: National Geographic, Discover, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Mother Earth News, Prevention,and Garbage.
  4. Think about current events. Look at the newspaper. People are hungry in Africa because of droughts (growing plants without much rain; which types grow with little water). Or the ozone hole over Antarctica (non-aerosol ways to spray things). Or oil spills (how to clean oil out of water).
  5. Watch commercials on TV. Test their claims. Does that antiperspirant really stop wetness better than other ones? What are the real differences between Barbie and imitation Barbie dolls? Can kids tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi if they don’t know which they are drinking?

BrainPop
While you can buy a membership for serious money, there are free movies on this site about a variety of topics, including science, technology, math, computer viruses, nanotechnology, robots, etc… fun stuff.

Ultimate Science Fair Source
Sponsored by the Society for Amateur Scientists, this site bills itself as “The Ultimate Science Fair Source.” Neatly done, with sections on project steps, project hints, writing reports, display boards, research links, even an idea bank and an idea exchange that include math! (Must have permission to reprint.) Note: This recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Fellowship” is charging for many of the resources but offers a free online science club. While you clearly won’t find humility lurking anywhere on these pages, there are some good freebie ideas and his LabRats projects are intriguing.

www.Virtual Library: Science Fairs
You will find links from this service to just about every pre-collegiate science research fair and competition described on the Web. Links are not frequently updated, but this still shows you the breadth of the movement to bring the opportunity to delve into the joys of science, engineering and math to youngsters before they start college.

As you heard on A Piece of the Puzzle, musicians know that musical talent is discovered and fostered best in elementary school, so that by high school youngsters already see themselves as musicians. How then can we expect the gifted scientists and engineers of the next generation to discover their talents and the joy of finding their calling if their minds and passions are denied research experience until college?

Want to know more about pre-collegiate science research?

  1. Review these resources and the many others on the web.
  2. Contact your regional science fair director about connecting with them.
  3. Explore competitions through the ISEF affiliates and through options such as Christopher Columbus Awards, eCyberMisson, FIRST Legos and Robotics competitions, Internet Science and Technology Fair, Junior Science and Humanities Symposia, Math Counts, NAQT Quiz Bowl, National Toy Challenge, Rube Goldberg Contest, Science Olympiad, Tech Xplore, Toshiba/NSTA Exploravision.
  4. For academic options, check out ESF in the High School, Gifted Math Program (Buffalo), Materials World Modules, National Engineers Week Future City, Project Lead the Way, SAE’s A World in Motion program, and Science Research in the High School.
  5. Depending upon the county, students can actually undertake one committed research experience and earn academic credits through their Science Research in the High School course, defend their work at the regional JSHS symposium, compete at an Intel-affiliated Science and Engineering Fair and the STANYS Science Congress, and submit their work to the Intel Science Talent Search and the Siemens Westinghouse Competition! How’s that for synergy?