High School Science Fair

I had the good fortune to be asked to judge a high school science fair on a recent afternoon.  I just thought I’d sit here and jot down a couple of things that really struck me, having to do with teenagers and the strange experience of viewing science through their eyes.  And of course, when you get to see something important to you through another set of eyes, interesting thoughts usually come up!

First:  wow, do these kids have energy!  I haven’t been in a high school setting, or among a mass of teenagers in a very long time, probably not since I was one of them myself.  Some of these students clearly had energy for their project and in making clear to me what thought and effort they had put into it.  Those kids were a lot of fun.  Others had energy, but it just as obviously was focused on other aspects of their lives.  Certainly not on putting effort into a silly science fair.  (I wonder if these students realize how easy it is for us to tell that they only put one afternoon’s effort into their project?)  Anyway, the gymnasium was buzzing with their energy.  As the judges arrived, all were nervous, all attention on last-minute practices mumbled to project partners.  As the judges visited our assigned projects, asked our questions, and steadily worked our ways through the students, the atmosphere correspondingly changed, super-energy high school students steadily regressed from focused, obliging mini-scientists into kids again, all grouping up together, the sounds of giggles taking over the gymnasium air.  Students were running around, God knows where or why, earning stern words from their teachers.  And suddenly, the high school students began making me very nervous, giving strange flashbacks to days not so long ago when I was JUST like that.  What’s scary is that I didn’t realize how old and low-energy and DULL I’ve become in comparison.  Holy crap!!

On a more scientific note, the other thing that stood out for me at the fair was the scientific method.  The whole thing was up on their gymnasium wall, on a giant banner, just like this: 

1. Define the question
2. Gather information
3. Form a hypothesis
4. Perform experiment and collect data
5. Analyze data
6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis

I do remember learning about this process in school.  I do remember being a bit baffled by it at the time (maybe I shouldn’t admit this?).  Now, the students at the science fair didn’t really seem to get the idea of a hypothesis, either.  And I didn’t truly understand it until grad school.  Back in high school and earlier, I just didn’t get what they were saying with it.  Something didn’t connect.  At least for me, early science education did not have anything to do with the discovery of new ideas.  It was simply the memorization of super fascinating discoveries that other people had already made.  And now I am wondering:  why is there so little discovery involved in elementary and high school education?  Why didn’t I learn how to really think critically until I was being battered with questions by professors in grad school in front of the whole Neurobiology department?  Did I miss something along the way? 

And this brings me to something that’s been running around in my brain for a few years now.  I’m just wondering if there might be a better way to teach young students the scientific method.  Once I learned and practiced the process of analyzing data, and to design an experiment that best rules out all variables and alternate conclusions (not an easy trick, mind you), I found that these skills apply fascinatingly well to everyday life.  I suppose they used to call it critical thinking back in school, but that too was a boring phrase that went in one of my ears and right out the other.  Being able to look at a set of information and truly get the most out of it, to be certain that you are not being tricked into a conclusion based on an incomplete data set, is a skill that is useful everywhere.  Just try and read the news, searching for the same sort of bias or incomplete data that you’d search for in a journal article.  I now try to never let these hard-earned skills go to waste.  It’s amazing the way the world looks once you can see through the crapola, analytically listening to a political speech or reading a news article.  I only got here after many years of science training.  Yes, I was a total sucker and believed most things that I read and heard before that.  But, isn’t there a way to make the importance of this skill more obvious to everyone, at a young age?  Otherwise, we’re all just suckers, aren’t we?

I know a number of my readers teach high school.  Any ideas?  Or am I just being a lunatic?  That’s cool if I am, you can say so.  J