Need some electrical engineering assistance

[JPG]

Let us see, a project of which the judges never heard of before lacks creativity.

A project on a subject with which the judges have no knowledge wasn't interesting.

What rock did these judges crawl out from under?

The research was good.

The experiment procedure was good.

The conclusions were good.

The writeup was good.

What 'criteria' did they use to 'judge'?

Were these judges teachers, or 'general public'?



Good science is rarely 'spectacular'.

Tell yer son to continue the course, later judges/teachers/ . . . will be far more realistic.



Regardless they are idiots.

[reible]

Since in the past I use to be a judge I can only give you some of the perspectives we used back when.

First off we were a group of 6 to 8 volunteers from various disciplines and levels at Bell Labs. Some times other companies had volunteers some time is was just us. We divided up in to teams and divided the participants up but there was never any linking of our expertise to who or what we were judging.

On the lower levels we would look for interesting subjects, a few questions make it clear if they knew the subject or had too much involvement from the parents. Like wise the exhibits were only a minor part of what was looked at. We never had time to have have official presentations which threw a lot of kids off guard. Since this was a science fair we looked at their procedure and understanding of what they had done. The "score" sheet had a few check boxes and room to write notes. We always attempted to compliment what we could and give a few areas of improvements that were needed. The idea was in encourage science.

Even at this level we had to pick some ones to go on, some that need some help and well some that were not going to fly. We had discussions with the teachers on the top ones that were ready for the next level and ones that needed some help and could go on if someone could tutor them and lend a helping hand. Keep in mind if there were 400 exhibits and we had 8 people paired that was 100 kids we each visited with on that one day.....

I really enjoy this lower level best.

As the levels went up we had more participation from "judges" and few kids to see. Frankly some of the judges likely fail science class and it showed at this level. Large groups of judge asking more questions and more of the science dropped out, crazy but that is how it was. Don't get me wrong, the kids on these higher levels had some pretty amazing projects, some beyond my understanding. How they came up with who went on, well that is another story.

We only did the regional area level and below, 5th through 12 grades, inner city Chicago.

It was an interesting program and included a lot more then just judging. Some people adopted a school and provided tutoring in math and science. We would bring demos into the schools for science days showing how phones and switches worked, all trying to encourage students to go into the engineering fields.

I can't say if we did any good or not but we did try.

Ed

[JPG]

Since in the past I use to be a judge I can only give you some of the perspectives we used back when.

First off we were a group of 6 to 8 volunteers from various disciplines and levels at Bell Labs. Some times other companies had volunteers some time is was just us. We divided up in to teams and divided the participants up but there was never any linking of our expertise to who or what we were judging.

On the lower levels we would look for interesting subjects, a few questions make it clear if they knew the subject or had too much involvement from the parents. Like wise the exhibits were only a minor part of what was looked at. We never had time to have have official presentations which threw a lot of kids off guard. Since this was a science fair we looked at their procedure and understanding of what they had done. The "score" sheet had a few check boxes and room to write notes. We always attempted to compliment what we could and give a few areas of improvements that were needed. The idea was in encourage science.

Even at this level we had to pick some ones to go on, some that need some help and well some that were not going to fly. We had discussions with the teachers on the top ones that were ready for the next level and ones that needed some help and could go on if someone could tutor them and lend a helping hand. Keep in mind if there were 400 exhibits and we had 8 people paired that was 100 kids we each visited with on that one day.....

I really enjoy this lower level best.

As the levels went up we had more participation from "judges" and few kids to see. Frankly some of the judges likely fail science class and it showed at this level. Large groups of judge asking more questions and more of the science dropped out, crazy but that is how it was. Don't get me wrong, the kids on these higher levels had some pretty amazing projects, some beyond my understanding. How they came up with who went on, well that is another story.

We only did the regional area level and below, 5th through 12 grades, inner city Chicago.

It was an interesting program and included a lot more then just judging. Some people adopted a school and provided tutoring in math and science. We would bring demos into the schools for science days showing how phones and switches worked, all trying to encourage students to go into the engineering fields.

I can't say if we did any good or not but we did try.

Ed

I need to retract some things I said above.

Tain't entirely the judges fault. Too much to 'judge' to give anyone a fair critique. So the superficial stuff would likely 'win'.

Cannot help but compare a project mentioned in the local paper this week. A high school senior was testing the effectiveness of cancer treating drugs of all things. 'Boring!:D'

[heathicus]

Thanks for your comments and perspective, reible. I don't know who the judges were or their qualifications. I never saw them. This wasn't a huge fair. In his category, there were about 10 entries. My son said there were 2 judges for each category. They asked everyone else in his category a bunch of questions, got to him and didn't hardly ask anything. He told them about his experiment, they complimented him on the procedure and his understanding of it (you know, the actual science part) but then said it lacked creativity and was uninteresting (it wasn't "cute" enough, or covered with bling and flair - the stuff that has nothing to do with science). Personally, I think it was probably over their heads because it wasn't everyday household type of stuff. Or they lacked imagination. I told my son he should have told them it is interesting to him and that's why he wanted to study it more. It is interesting to conservationists who use electrolysis to conserve and restore priceless relics and antiques. It's interesting to geologists who use it to clean iron-rich meteor rocks encrusted with rust. Maybe he should have played up those angles more. We just didn't want "flair" to distract from the science.

Like I said, we're not upset he lost. It's what won instead. While the other kids followed the scientific method, their projects were also unoriginal. This is the first time I've ever been involved in a science fair, and I've seen these same projects done by other kids at other schools and these regional winners didn't do them any better than the other kids did. Their conclusions were also obvious from the beginning. Duct tape is stickier than painters tape - imagine that!

I'm not one of those "my kid is amazing and the best at everything he does and your kid is stupid" type of parents. This may have me acting that way, but I promise I'm not!

Good science is rarely 'spectacular'.

Exactly. Seeing what won makes us feel like science fairs are all about flashy board decorations instead of science.

You guys done good!

But science will only get you so far, and then you need marketing! We clearly need Idcook to consult next year, in a collaborative multi-disciplinary social woodworking media team effort. Or better yet, recruit that Poison Ivy girl to present the poster. Now that would be "creative"!

And I'm only half-joking.

Now that's funny! Maybe a "booth babe" is what he needed!