Scandal at America's top science fair
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Scandal at America's top science fair
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Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#2When I was 16 I did a project on whether plants could be used to remove heavy metals from soil. I don’t know why I did this but I did a nitrate test on the plants (because I had been putting lead nitrate into the soil) and drew the conclusion that it must’ve worked.
About 2 weeks before the city science fair I realized my error (none of my teachers had said anything).
So in an attempt to lose, I made my backboard as bad as possible. I didn’t use scissors or glue, I just tore the paper and used masking tape.
Long story short, I have no idea how, but despite my best efforts, I won the city science fair including an HP-48 graphing calculator and a trip to the state science fair.
At the state science fair my backboard (you had to use the same one as the city contest) was mocked by much more studious 8-year olds. I found out that teachers weren’t allowed in the exhibition hall so I just abandoned my space and went to the beach.
I did not win the state science fair.
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#3[deleted]
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#4There's a good book, Punished By Rewards.
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#5Sounds like someone is a member of the Dan Ariely school of science. There might be a professorship at Duke in his future.
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#6Sounds like someone is a member of the Dan Ariely school of science. There might be a professorship at Duke in his future.
Home hellinga also at duke!
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#7[flagged]
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#8When I was 16 I did a project on whether plants could be used to remove heavy metals from soil. I don’t know why I did this but I did a nitrate test on the plants (because I had been putting lead nitrate into the soil) and drew the conclusion that it must’ve worked. About 2 weeks before the city science fair I realized my error (none of my teachers had said anything). So in an attempt to lose, I made my backboard as…
why would you try to lose instead of just writing about the null hypothesis? why even make a submission?
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#9Science fairs always have hints of fraud around them. Many of the children putting out incredibly advanced research, beyond their capacity, are benefiting from their parents’ expertise, or friends of family, or access to labs, and such. It’s not talked about much but has been an issue for decades.
As a side note, the criticism around this incident seems to have some racial tones. It’s weird to see tweets referring to participants as the “Indian guy” and “Chinese guy”. Or is that just me?
Re: Scandal at America's top science fair
#10I was a finalist at the 2017 ISEF and it was quite an experience. A lot of super smart kids there and we all had fun living it up in Los Angeles.
There was a stark contrast between those of us who had designed our projects completely ourselves, and those who had significant mentors/lab affiliations. No hate to high schoolers getting valuable STEM experience at local universities, but Regeneron should do more to differentiate between these different projects.