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15. COMPETITION AND PUBLICATION

Let's suppose you have finished polishing a satisfying piece of work. Or it might be more realistic to suppose that you have reached a natural stopping point where it becomes evident that new thinking, planning and equipment may be necessary before you can go any further.

You may have carried out this project to pin down an answer that eluded you. If you had fun looking for that answer, or if you actually produced what scientists and mathe­matics call an "elegant proof," you will be wondering now how you can share it and check its validity against other work in your field.

One of the most rewarding ways to do this is by entering your project in one of the local or national competitions for young student-scientists. Descriptions of some of these are included here. For details, rules, entry materials and other information, consult your science teacher, club sponsor or other adult leader, or write to the addresses given.

Science Fairs

What Is a Science Fair?

A science fair is a collection of exhibits, each of which is designed to show a biological, chemical, physical or tech­nical principle, a laboratory or other procedure, an industrial development or an orderly collection of anything which can be fitted into the broad concept of any branch of any pure or applied science.

Every year millions of people see science exhibits shown by students at science fairs leading to the National Science Fair-International.

The simplest fair is an exhibition of science projects held in the school itself, where all the experiments, collections and displays that have been worked out by students either in class or as extracurricular science club activities are shown. These fairs have become so numerous that it is difficult to keep track of them. They often are a feature of a meeting or a showing to which the public is invited.

If the scientists who judge the science fair agree that a piece of work is valid and is well presented, the exhibitor may find himself winning an award and taking his project on to a large regional fair. City-wide, area or regional science fairs may exhibit several hundred projects in a large hall and may be visited by thousands of interested people.

Those chosen as finalists may exhibit at the National Science Fair-International, conducted each year by Science Service. The National Science Fair-International has devel­oped from a beginning of 13 affiliated area fairs in 1950 to 200 in 1961.

The scope of projects has done some growing too. The once-upon-a-time exhibit of several casually mounted butter­fly specimens has given way to expert demonstrations and really mature research work. Since the present generation keeps up very well with the latest developments, many a professional scientist has been amazed to see the newest design in artificial kidneys or computers or rockets very com­petently exhibited at a science fair. These are not just models, copied from drawings. They involve considerable understand­ing of the principles and sometimes include new features designed by the exhibitor. If it is a winning project, some work has been done with the equipment once it was built.

The rules of the National Science Fair-International specify that to be eligible boys and girls must be students in the last three years of public, private, parochial or other secondary schools, and must have been selected for highest honors in a regional fair affiliated with the National Science Fair-Inter­national.

Each affiliated fair is entitled to send two finalists and their exhibits to the National Science Fair-International, paying their expenses and undertaking responsibility for them.

For National Science Fair-International Awards, exhibits are judged in the two general categories of biological and physical sciences, and the exhibits of girl and boy finalists are judged separately. First place awards are made to the top boy's and girl's projects in each of two categories. Other awards are prorated according to the number of girls and boys among the finalists, regardless of the category of their exhibits.

A project may continue and expand work that has been exhibited at a previous fair. However, identical repetition of a project automatically disqualifies a finalist.

Each finalist receives a rainbow-ribboned gold and silver medal engraved with his or her name and that of the cooperating organization. A facsimile medal on a certificate is sent to the principal of the school of each finalist to become a trophy in the school.

On the basis of critical judging, outstanding finalists are given "Wish Awards"—selected scientific equipment, ma­terials or books which winners have "wished for" to help them in their study and experimentation.

Also given at the National Science Fair-International are Award Citations and honorable mentions from the American Medical Association for the best exhibits in the broad field of medical sciences and health. Award Citations carry with them all-expense-paid trips to the annual meeting of the AMA.

Certificates of Superior Achievement, and invitations to exhibit at the annual meeting of the American Dental Asso­ciation, are awarded to selected finalists whose exhibits are considered best in the broad field of science related to den­tistry. Certificates of Meritorious Achievement, plus gift certificates toward purchase of scientific equipment, are given to winners of honorable mentions.

A plaque and an invitation to exhibit at the annual Ameri­can Veterinary Medical Association meeting are awarded in this field. Alternates also may be recognized and honored.

The American Pharmaceutical Association offers a First Award of an engraved plaque and an all-expense-paid trip to the annual meeting of the American Pharmaceutical As­sociation in Washington, D.C. A Second Award winner also is designated.

The American Chemical Society presents First Awards of plaques and gifts of money for the purchase of science ma­terials. Alternate Awards also are given.

The American Heart Association awards a citation plaque for the best heart related exhibit and a trip to the annual AHA meeting to exhibit the winner's project.

The Society of American Bacteriologists make First and Second Awards of plaques and money for scientific equip­ment.

The American Institute of Biological Sciences makes awards to top exhibitors in its field, inviting the winners to attend the annual meeting of the Institute.

The Optical Society of America makes an award in the fields related to  optics.

Additional professional organizations are planning to honor outstanding work in their specialties.

U.S. Navy judges honor finalists whose exhibits are considered best in the broad area of Navy-oriented projects. Each fall these finalists join other Navy Science Cruisers (one selected from each regional affiliated fair) for a highly science-oriented trip on fleet ships at sea.

U.S. Army and the Association of the U.S. Army judges honor finalists whose exhibits are in the specialized areas of missiles, satellites, electronics, electronic calculators, mathe­matics, high and low temperatures, instrumentation, meteor­ology and medicine. Winners of Army Science Awards are given trips to Army science installations.

U.S. Air Force judges select outstanding exhibits in various categories, including air power and air explorations. Finalists receive recognition and appear with their exhibits at the annual Aerospace Panorama Exposition.

Educators and newsmen cooperating in the program of the National Science Fair-International plan the fair in a different city each year.

All finalists enjoy a four-day program of scientific sight­seeing and meetings with leading scientists. They become ac­quainted with other finalists having similar interests, com­pare their work and share their enthusiasm.

Judging is based on creative ability, scientific thought, thor­oughness, skill, clarity and the dramatic value of each ex­hibit. Scientists designated by Science Service judge the contest, and the decision of these judges is final in all cases.

How to Conduct a Science Fair

The science club sponsor or teacher, or group of sponsors or teachers, first should get permission from the principal or board of education to hold a science fair to which par­ents and the public will be invited.

The fair may be designed for operation in one school, or each school of a group of schools can schedule the event to occur substantially at the same time. The best exhibits may then be presented at a final centralized place.

Fairs should be held early in the spring. If entry is ar­ranged for finalists to participate in the National Science Fair-International, the regional fair must close early in April. Names of finalists must be reported immediately to the National Science Fair-International Headquarters, at the close of the regional fair.

Regional fairs may be held in classrooms in school, in the chemistry or physics laboratories, in the school gym­nasium or cafeteria, in a community building, college build­ing, museum or armory. In fact, any place where adequate electric current facilities are available and which will accom­modate crowds will prove satisfactory. If held in a hall, local police and fire departments should be advised of the event so that guards can be posted to protect the properties adequately. School events should be monitored for protection and to guide people to and from the exhibit areas.

School fairs may be open to students in any year of ele­mentary or secondary school, from kindergarten up, if de­sired. Exhibits should be so arranged and classified that all those made by students of one grade division may be com­pared both by the judges and the public. Each exhibit may be made by a group of students or only one student. Group exhibits should be judged apart from those made by individ­uals.

In the upper grades all physics exhibits should be grouped into a class separate from those in chemistry, or biology. The committee should set the limits defined by educational levels, not by age of the student.

Judges should be people who understand the topic being judged or can approach it open-mindedly. A good combination is a layman, a teacher from the same grade but from an­other school and a scientist for each division or classification —the layman to tell if he learned something from the exhibit, the teacher to specify if the exhibit represents good work on the part of the student of the specified school year and the scientist to attest to its technical accuracy. Point scores are recommended. Judges should evaluate exhibits before the show is open to the public.

Anything from a silver star or rubber stamp to more elaborate awards may be made. Often merely the posting of merits will suffice. All exhibits and names of exhibitors, schools, etc., should appear in a list of exhibits. Local towns­men, civic, scientific or cultural groups or industry may pre­sent awards. If they are other than certificates, they should be selected so as to further the scientific education of the winners. School plaques or certificates also may be given. Scholarships, if available, should be awarded for scholastic attainments as well as good exhibits.

What has been stated for a school science fair applies to a regional* or city-wide fair, except that greater numbers are involved and greater attention will be given to each opera­tion.

Regional and school science fairs generally use the rules of the National Science Fair-International or adapt them to fit various local situations.

Depending on local rules, students may work individually or in groups. Exhibits must be designed and made by stu­dents. They may seek help from educators and others. Each exhibit should be so arranged that it can be understood by the layman without requiring an accompanying demonstration or lecture. Judgment of exhibits is based on work done by students, not on cost of accessory or incidental equipment.

Exhibiting Your Science Project

Before you even begin work on a project that you plan to enter in a science fair, you will want to have some idea of how it might be exhibited effectively. More detailed ideas will occur to you as your work progresses, and you will want to jot these down_ for future use.

When you are ready to build the exhibit, first make a preliminary design to see what the over-all effect will be. Then make a more accurate sketch that includes all neces­sary details.

1. Layout. A science fair exhibit for most fairs should be forty-eight inches wide by thirty inches front to back, or less. Some things, such as telescopes, which may not fit into these dimensions, should be displayed so that their longest dimension extends vertically, to avoid crowding by neighbor­ing exhibits.

Starting with sections of a corrugated pasteboard box and sheets of cardboard the required size, rough in the space your exhibit is to occupy. The floor and the back wall of this exhibit space will hold the most important objects to be shown. Remember that material or lettering high on the back wall has the best chance of being seen by the visitors, many of whom will be peering over the shoulders of others in front of them.

Try to proportion the various objects in your exhibit so that they can be seen clearly from where the visitors will stand. Too many large objects will make the space look clut­tered. Too few small ones will seem lost.

If your idea is to show one compact object or group and label the parts, bright-colored ribbons or adhesive tape may lead the eye from the part, located in the center foreground of the exhibit space, to a wall area where the explanation is lettered large enough to be read from a distance. Side walls used for this purpose may slope from the narrower back panel toward the wider front edge of the enclosing walls.

Successive steps in a processing story may be labeled in a similar fashion and numbered from one on, reading preferably from left to right.

2. Types of Exhibits. There are three basic methods of treatment, with many variations for each. The first is "bread­board" style, that is, on an open breadboard, or flat on the exhibit tables. The second is the panel form of construction in which sides, back and base are put to use. Sometimes even the top and front also become parts of the exhibit area. The third method utilizes boxed units set one alongside the other, and sometimes on top of each other as well.

The breadboard style is suited to the display of large mounted specimens, chemical and physical apparatus, ob­jects under magnifiers and microscopes, models, industrial replicas, experimental electrical circuits, growing plants and the like. To prepare such a display for speedy setup, desig­nate where all the parts are to be exhibited on a piece of wrapping paper cut to the size of the space allowed. With heavy pencil outline the base of each object on the paper. Number each article and number the diagram as well. Pack all the parts in a box, preferably divided by cardboard parti­tions.

In panel construction, take full advantage of the side panels, base and back by treating each as a separate unit. If possible, construct the exhibit area of a sturdy material like pressed wood, plywood or wallboard. Easiest to use is pegboard, with its predrilled holes. Arrange a system fen-coupling the panels together, perhaps by lashing them with shoestring, cord or tape, or by using hinges and removable pins.

If your specimens are flat or are to be mounted against the panels, the panels can be hinged with cloth hinges, like a folding screen. Probably the best way is to couple the pieces together with loose pin hinges. Stand the panels in the posi­tions they are to occupy and screw the hinges to the backs so that the parts are held securely together. Knock out the pins and the pieces come apart. Hooks or screw eyes may be driven into the panels to support hanging specimen materials, or holes for brackets can be made in sides or back. Large specimens can be wired to the panels with little danger of their coming undone.

Completely boxed-in units are recommended for such things as radio transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, oscillo­scopes, numerous valuable or fragile specimens and, of course, aquaria and Wardian cases, natural habitat groups and the like. Where a number of electrical interconnections must be made, avoid single wire connectors and use multiple pin type plugs and connectors instead.

Aquaria should not be cleared for transport. Instead, re­move the fish and place them in transport cans or put a few in each of a number of cardboard containers. Syphon the water into gallon jugs. Cover the plants with wet news­paper or paper towels. At the exhibit area return the same water by pouring it onto the paper so as not to disturb the soil or gravel. Then remove paper and return the fish. The tank will remain clear.

Plants in Wardian cases or natural habitat displays are easy to transport if kept in individual pots sunk into the sur­rounding surface deep enough so that the rims do not show. Then they can be removed to make the case lighter and reset without danger to growth. Plants must pass federal and state quarantine regulations.

It is helpful to make a small diagram to follow on setup day. Such a guide will allow you to assemble your exhibit in little time.

3. Lettering and Labels. Avoid huge letters poorly made, ponderous charts or diagrams, notebook records spread across the table top. Make your major legends small and neat and readable at a distance of six to eight feet. Judges and visitors who want to study the details can leaf through your notebook, which preferably should be secured to the right front edge of your exhibit space.

Various precut letters, lettering guides and aids are avail­able from drafting supplies stores. Small and large plastic letters from discarded display material often can be obtained from stores and restaurants. Thin strips of colored cello­phane and masking tape attached to a background may also be used.

Letters from magazines and newspapers are useful for shape, size and style. They may be traced by moistening a sheet of good bond paper with lighter fluid, which makes the paper transparent, then tracing the letters with a pencil. Because of the fire hazard, keep flames away and work in a well-ventilated room. When the fluid evaporates, the paper will resume its opacity.

Prepare the text of your legends carefully. Write what you want to say, then set it aside for a day or two. When you go over it again, you may find useless words that you can elimi­nate, or you may want to reword some of it to make it clearer or more interesting.

4. Safe and Sturdy Construction. A science fair exhibit must be designed to protect visitors from possible accident and exhibit material from careless handling from the oc­casional souvenir hunter. Exhibits must be durably and safely designed and constructed, using approved switches and cords for 110-volt operation.

To avoid accidents, science fairs ban strong acids and al­kalies, flames, explosives, materials liable to spontaneous combustion, dangerous gases, poisons, poisonous reptiles, cul­tures of disease germs and other materials which the Fair Committee judges to be potentially harmful.

This does not mean that a research project involving one or more of these materials is barred, but only that the actual material must not be placed where visitors might come in contact with it.

Always substitute safe and permanent materials for dan­gerous or unstable ones. Avoid top-heavy structures or in­securely fastened display boards, electrical insulation of doubt­ful quality or make-do support of heavy equipment.

If there is any doubt in your mind about the adequacy of your construction, reinforce it before you take it to the science fair.

Regulations for Experiments with Animals

This guide for high school students of biology was prepared at the request of Science Clubs of America by a committee of the National Society for Medical Research and later amended by committees of the Animal Care Panel and Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources.

1. The basic aim of scientific studies that involve animals is to achieve an understanding of life, and to advance our knowledge of life processes. Such studies lead to a respect for life.
   
2. A qualified adult supervisor must assume primary responsibility for the purposes and conditions of any experiment that involves living animals.
   
3. No   experiment   should  be  undertaken  that  involves anesthetic drugs, surgical procedures, pathogenic organisms toxicological  products, carcinogens  or  radiation  unless   a trained   biological scientist, physician, dentist or veterinarian directly supervises the experiment.
   
4. Any experiment must be performed with the animal under appropriate anesthesia if pain is involved.
   
5. The comfort of the animal used in any study shall be a prime concern of the student investigator. Gentle handling, proper feeding and provision of appropriate sanitary quarters shall at all times be strictly observed. Any experiment in nutritional  deficiency  may  proceed  only  to  the  point  where symptoms of the deficiency appear. Appropriate measures shall then be taken to correct the deficiency, if such action is feasible.
   
6. Students shall not be permitted to participate in science fairs held under the auspices of the National Science Fair-International until their adult sponsors have submitted assurance in writing that the above rules have been observed.
   

The Rewards of Science Fairs

Students who exhibit their projects at science fairs dis­cover that, whether or not they are declared winners, they take home less tangible rewards which they will value for the rest of their lives.

They mention such important gains as new self-confidence and self-respect, satisfaction in having planned and carried through a productive piece of work, familiarity with the many ways of searching out information, contact with like-minded students and adult scientists and experience in dis­cussing their ideas, work and plans with other people. In addition to all this, most science fair exhibitors collect a whole hatful of stimulating new ideas and fresh perspectives.

The experience of doing an independent project and of the contacts with other science-minded students and mature scientists often has started a chain reaction of enthusiasm. Many students have learned, to their own surprise, what abil­ity they have in science. Suddenly they want very much to study science and mathematics courses, looking forward to college training in one of the sciences or in science and math teaching. Those who already were eager science-aspirants have become more convinced than ever that they have chosen an exciting and rewarding career.

It is evident that science fair experience in itself is an im­portant ingredient in the development of young scientists. For instance, in a Science Service poll 121 National Science Fair-International finalists were asked, "What did designating you as a finalist mean to you?"

About a third of the students felt that the stimulation of such personal gratification was important. One fifth said that receiving public recognition was a valuable experience. About a tenth each answered, "Responsibility for future effort," "improved status for the future" and "increased self-confi­dence."

Participating in science fairs also can teach a student the somewhat elusive technique of winning and losing well, that is, without undue puffing up or abject collapse. Both teachers and students report that winning some recognition has a way of inspiring further trying, sometimes followed by even greater achievement. In fact, some students say that their interest in training for a career in science or technology began when they earned an honor or an award at a science fair. Science fair directors and judges like to remember, also, the instances when losing showed that an exhibitor had what it took, stimulating him to develop really excellent work habits and attitudes and the drive to do better the next time.

Teachers and parents say that in planning and putting to­gether a project a student discovers ways of finding answers —through books, magazines, scientific papers and his own experiments—that can enrich all the rest of his life, whatever his eventual career.

Boys and girls discover, too, that being part of a fair brings them into contact with other searching minds, both in their own generation and among educators and working scientists. Many a teen-ager who had felt "different" and lonely has confessed that such contacts with like minds was an unex­pected and immensely gratifying experience.

Many exhibitors say that continued science fair activity has helped them to find ways of communicating facts and hunches, and the way they feel about both, to other people. Educators agree that such ability is rather sadly rare among scientists and thinkers of all kinds, and even among teachers.

Success Stories

The announcement of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology revealed a particularly inspiring success story of a scientist who started out in a high school science club and science fair. Co-winner Joshua Lederberg was an active member of the Stuyvesant High School Science Club in New York City some twenty years ago. The Nobelist says that he feels greatly indebted to the unusual opportunities given to him as a high school student and believes that such early encouragement is highly important and valuable.

Science Clubs of America has kept a file on each of the Science Talent Search winners and National Science Fair-International finalists. These files and follow-up studies are yielding impressive statistics on the progress of promising students toward professional success.

For example, 100% of the Science Talent Search winners have attended or now are attending college, with all but a handful majoring in some branch of science. Of those old enough, nearly half have received or soon will receive doc­toral degrees.

Winners are on the faculties of colleges and universities here and abroad (one is a college president), conducting research, teaching or both; on the staffs of industrial research laboratories and organizations; on research staffs of govern­ment institutions or endowed research organizations; and so on.

Careers in the physical sciences have attracted the largest number so far, with physics ranking somewhat ahead of chemistry and mathematics. The second largest number are working in the biological sciences and medicine. Engineering has claimed the third largest number of winners.

Although as a group the National Science Fair-International finalists are considerably younger than the Science Talent Search winners, they also are demonstrating the validity of the recognition they were given, and in many cases the results of their science club and science fair opportunities. Of those who have reported having received their bachelor's degrees, ninety-five percent majored in science or education. Better than ninety percent of the undergraduates reporting have chosen majors in science or education.

Dr. Dominic B. Edelen, who was one of the finalists in the very first National Science Fair in 1950, is a shining example of what may become of high school scientists hon­ored at the national event.

This twenty-seven-year-old research mathematician is head of the Dynamics Group on Project Vanguard at The Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, and has been responsible for analyzing control problems arising from the complex movements of the satellite launching rockets before and dur­ing flight. He also is a visiting lecturer at Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, and some of his papers on mathematics have been published. Other papers he has written on missile system analysis are still classified.

The winning project that Dominic took to the National Science Fair ten years ago was a Van de Graaff generator using an accelerator tube he had improvised. This project won a third prize in physical science.

His interest since then has ranged through such problems as the Fourier heat conduction equation and the elastic wave equations. His doctoral dissertation was "The Extension of the Theory of Canonical Maps for a System of Tensorial Partial Differential Equations Which Arise from the Calculus of Variations in Independent Variables."

In addition to providing future-making experience to stu­dents, science fairs are a lively spring tonic to science-mindedness, prepared for and looked forward to by the whole community. Even the smallest fry are eager fair visitors who stand on tiptoe to look at protozoa through a microscope or listen delightedly to the roar of a tornado vortex model.

The fairs give young students, their parents, their teachers and all other people who have advised and encouraged them the pleasant and stimulating reward of public recog­nition. A special side of this is described by Mary Ploog Dankleff, a 1954 National Science Fair finalist from the Northeast Iowa Science Fair, who now has completed col­lege and is married to an English instructor.

"Science fair recognition on the high school level is one of the few ways by which a girl has an equal opportunity to prove her worth," she says. "Each time a girl does re­ceive such recognition she widens a bit the opportunities for herself and other women, and she persuades teachers and em­ployers to give her the opportunity to train professionally in the area of science."

Suzan Lynn Hopkins, another Iowa winner and a 1956 National Science Fair finalist, says that her desire for a career in research was not "simply because I happened to be fortunate enough to win first place in the science fair. I would have done so had I received no recognition at all.

"Anyone who enters a science fair hoping to win a prize," comments Suzan, "really has a distorted sense of values. The experience and knowledge one gains from working on a project outweighs by far any material awards or recognition he might receive."

A premedical student at the University of Iowa, Suzan looks forward to a degree in medicine and further graduate work in chemistry. Eli Lilly and Company, pharmaceutical manufacturers, became interested in Suzan and her science fair project on antibiotics and, as a result, Suzan has worked in the Lilly antibiotic laboratories each summer.

Science project activities and science fairs are considered vitally important to the nation's future by President Eisen­hower and top government officials. The United States Navy, Army and Air Force have organized programs to give ex­tensive help and support to student-scientists and to honor outstanding projects at the National Science Fair-Interna­tional.

There is, in fact, a sort of gigantic Project Prot6g6 going on all over the United States. Without any publicity, and even without very much notice or appreciation from the rest of us, hundreds of highly competent specialists in in­dustry, universities, government and other organizations are nurturing would-be scientists who are still in junior and senior high school.

Uncounted hours of advice, pieces of hard-to-get equip­ment and unpublished reports have been made available to students by busy scientists who often defer their own work or leisure to help a young person on his way. Immeasurable enthusiasm and dedication have been exchanged in the proc­ess, to the mutual benefit of everyone involved.

The Science Talent Search

What Is the Science Talent Search?

Many students in junior high school and in the early years of senior high school look forward to and prepare for entering the Science Talent Search for the Westinghouse Science Scholarships and Awards when they reach their senior year of high school. With essential educational cooperation, stu­dents whose scientific skill, talent and ability indicate potential creative originality are discovered through this competition. Science club and science fair activities have proved to, be excellent preparation and background for success in this scholarship competition.

"The Science Talent Search is conducted annually by Science Clubs of America, as an activity of Science Service, and is sponsored by the Westinghouse Educational Foundation, an organization endowed by the Westinghouse Electric Cor­poration for the purpose of promoting education and science. It is open to boys and girls who are seniors in public, private or parochial schools in the United States, but excluding U.S. possessions, who are expected by the certifying school offi­cials to complete college entrance qualifications before the following October. Students must not have competed in any previous Science Talent Search.

All the selection techniques of the Science Talent Search for the Westinghouse Science Scholarships and Awards, con­ducted for nineteen years by Science Clubs of America, have been developed to discover and encourage the most promising young research scientists among the nation's high school seniors.

Scores on the Science Aptitude Examination represent the first hurdle in the judging procedures. There is no predetermined "passing" grade and scores are plotted on a curve to discover which contestants may be qualified for further judging. The qualifying score for boys in the Nine­teenth Search was 143; for girls it was 130. This method of scoring allowed a large margin, for the highest score among the boys was 211 out of a total possible score of 244. High­est score among the girls, who made up 22% of the entrants, was 198.

As the next step, detailed scholastic records of each of the students who passed the examination were evaluated. Then evidence presented by the student and by his faculty sponsor concerning his activities, drives, hobbies, personality traits and attitudes was weighed carefully to find any of a number of combinations of achievement and promise.

Each entrant is required to submit a written report of an individual research project, usually consisting of a thousand or so words of text, plus relevant diagrams, theorems, pic­tures, etc. The papers of all students who had survived the first hurdles of the Search were read critically by a board of professional scientists which included specialists in the many fields explored by the student-scientists. This board worked its way through everything from an idea for a flat video dis­play panel for television to the use of dithioacids to trace esterification reactions with primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols.

Then these professional opinions were added to the other evidence for and against each candidate.

Correlating all of these evaluations, the board of judges selected an Honors Group of 448 students (10% of those with complete entries) who showed outstanding scientific potential and who were recommended to colleges and uni­versities for admission and scholarship aid.

To choose the forty top winners from this Honors Group, each detail was re-examined and weighed on an even more precise scale of values. During the five-day Science Talent Institute held early in March in Washington, D.C., the known data on each of these forty was supplemented significantly by personal interviews and weighed again in selecting the five who were awarded Westinghouse Science Scholarships. These ranged from $7500 to $3000.

Some of the traits and abilities most prominent among these outstanding young people were intense intellectual curiosity, ingenuity, self-discipline, wide scope of interest and an intuitive grasp of why and how facts may relate to each other.

During the Science Talent Institute the forty winners met eminent scientists, visited scientific laboratories of un­usual interest and were interviewed by the judges. The Westinghouse scholarships and awards were announced at a banquet at the close of the Institute.

The 5 scholarships of $7500, $6000, $5000, $4000 and $3000 may be used at any accredited college or university and will help to assure these young pre-scientists of pro­fessional training in their fields. Recognition in the Science Talent Search brings many thousands of dollars in other scholarship offers to the Honors Group. In addition, 36 states and the District of Columbia conduct State Science Talent Searches in cooperation with Science Clubs of America, awarding some $600,000 in scholarships to students from their states who are qualified entrants in the national Search.

Entering the Science Talent Search

To enter the Science Talent Search the senior takes the Science Aptitude Examination in his own school under the supervision of his sponsor, teacher or other authorized school official. Such persons also prepare recommendations and see that the scholastic record is transmitted. The student writes a report of about 1000 words on his science project. This should involve original work. Entrants should develop a project that is planned for the Search or adapt to the Search something they already are doing.

Science teachers and school officials qualified to administer the examination may request entry materials for any number of eligible students. Entry blanks are mailed from Washington about November 15. The examination must be administered early in December.

Complete entry materials must reach headquarters of Science Clubs of America in Washington, D.C., by midnight, December 27.

Girls as well as boys are encouraged to enter the Science Talent Search. The number of girls chosen for honors is de­termined by the proportion of girls who complete entries.

The Science Aptitude Examination

To give you a clue to your possible score on the Science Aptitude Examination of the Science Talent Search, some sample questions from the nineteenth test are presented here for you to try. The full-length examination is intended to pass only the best of the competing students, and no one ever has made a perfect score in the two-and-one-half-hour test.

According to the authors of the annual aptitude exam­ination—Dr. Harold A. Edgerton, New York consulting psychologist, and Dr. Steuart Henderson Britt of Northwest­ern University—its various parts are designed to measure "ability to think and reason in terms of scientific concepts and vocabulary."

Allow yourself twenty minutes to complete this sample test, then check your answers with those given on page 230.

PART A

DIRECTIONS:  Four possible answers are given for each
question. Choose that answer which is most nearly correct.

3. In the northern hemisphere, the direction of clockwise winds around a high-pressure center and around a low-pressure center are respectively

2. clockwise : counter

3. counterclockwise : clockwise

4. counterclockwise : counterclockwise

1. clockwise : clockwise

4. At the lowest known temp­erature (almost absolute zero), every element and every compound except one is a solid. Which one is it?

1. helium
2. hydrogen
3. nitrogen
4. oxygen
5. The term molecular engi­neering refers to
6. control of chemical re­action through  electronic computers
7. designing   of   nuclear reactors
8. developing     chemical compounds to fit spe­cific needs
9. developing   industrial materials   from   farm crops

19. A level of 160 decibels, a very loud noise, has been found lethal for some ani­mals. This occurs through

1. causing malfunction of the liver
2. impairment of hearing
3. raising   body   temperature
4. reduction in sleep

20. Yttrium's advantage in the nuclear field is "its relatively low thermonuclear cross section." This means that
1.     it has less resistance than many other materials to the passage of neutrons needed to sustain  a nuclear re­action

1. it is highly resistant to the passage of neutrons
2. it takes very little of this material to contain an active reactor cell
3. its melting point is high enough to with stand reactor temperatures

21.       A Venn diagram is the graphical representation of

1. a cross section of a plant's stem or leaves
2. the air flowing over an airplane wing
3. the efficiency of a pump
4. the relationships between sets

22.       Zeolite crystals are not useful as

1. carriers for volatile catulysts
2. dehydrating devices
3. semiprecious gems
4. separators for different types of molecules
   

COMPETITION AND PUBLICATION

PART B

SECTION G

It has been generally accepted that color vision is congeni-tally determined, that there is little change with age (princi­pally in blue discrimination due to the effects of increasing pigmentation in old age) and that young people should have the best color discrimination.

Lakowski's recent study shows that red-green color discrim­ination is at its best at about the age of 28, that yellow-blue discrimination is superior around the age of 20; it suggests that children of 10 have poorer red-green discrimination than they will again have until they reach 50. Impairment of yel­low-blue discrimination does occur after 25 but more severely than is generally supposed. Violet-bluegreen discrimination shows a surprising change in early childhood and diminishes very sharply after 40 or 45.

QUESTIONS ON SECTION G

50. Which of the curves in the accompanying diagram best represents the relationship of age and red-green dis­crimination?

The typical pattern of growth and decline of dis­crimination with age is action in early child­hood does not mean poor color discrimin­ation as an adult.

1. good-good-poor
2. good-poor-good
3. poor-good-good
4. poor-good-poor
   

4. There is greater age difference than sex difference in ability to discriminate color.

52. On the basis of the para­graphs, which of the fol­lowing statements is most nearly true?

1. More people have poor yellow-blue discrimination than have poor red-green discrimination.
   
2. Older adults have less adequate   color   discrimination than persons in their thirties.
   
3. Poor color discrimin-
   

53. "Color discrimination is congenitally determined and hence it remains fairly constant throughout the life of an individual." According to the para­graphs this statement is

1. consistent   with   ex­perimental results
2. false
3. generally  accepted but not true
4. true

PART  C

101. Below is a diagram of a vertebrate eye. A num­ber of parts are indi­cated by arrows, each identified by a letter. For each part in the list, put the letter of one of the arrows in front of the name of the part indi­cated by the arrow.

            1.  aqueous humor
            2.  cornea
            3.  iris
            4.  lens
            5.  retina
            6.  sclerotic coat

103. Select the number of the achievement men­tioned in Column II and write it in the par­entheses at the left of the name of the scien­tist in Column I who is associated with it.

Column I
(           )           1.         Svante Arrhenius
(           )           2.         Alexis Carrel
(           )           3.         Heinrich Hertz
(           )           4.         Dimitri Mendeleev

Column II

1. developed theory of elec­trolytic dissociation
2. devised the quantum theory of light
3. discovered argon, neon, xenon, krypton
4. discovered   methods   of tissue culture
5. formulated    electromagnetic theory of light
6. initiated the periodic table of the elements
7. measured the charge of the electron
8. produced first wireless waves
9. For a complete aptitude examination, send 15f in coins to Science Clubs of America, 1719 N St., N.W., Washington 6, D. C, and ask for the test.

Science Exam Answers

If you have answered all of these questions correctly, you fared better than any of 203 Science Talent Search contestants selected at random.

Awarding two (2) points for each correct answer in Parts A and B, and one (1) point for each in Part C, a high score on the short version would be 18-20 or more out of a possible total score of 32. A low score would be 13 or less.

You should not be discouraged if your score is not "glitter­ing." The test is intended to qualify only the best among thousands of students, and no one ever has made a perfect score. In addition, you probably are not as thoroughly in the test-taking groove as a high school senior who has just finished college entrance examinations and a number of qualifying tests for various purposes.

Junior Academies of Science

Among the variety of activities carried on by Junior Acad­emies of Science are: sponsoring and organizing regional science fairs affiliated with the National Science Fair-Inter­national; holding science congresses during which students present scientific papers and are awarded medals or other prizes; and organizing field trips, science seminars, lecture series and career and project counseling sessions.

Many senior Academies conduct state Science Talent Searches in cooperation with the national Search, awarding honors, prizes and scholarships to contestants within their states.

National Merit Scholarships

National Merit Scholarships are four-year college scholar­ships available to high school seniors. The stipend accom­panying each scholarship is based on need and may vary from

$100 to $1500 a year. The average stipend is now about $750 a year. Registration for the Merit Scholarship Program is by high school. The National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the first step in the annual competition, is administered to second-semester juniors and first-semester seniors in the spring of each school year. Each principal is sent registration ma­terials in October. Any eligible student may take the examina­tion at the cost of $1.00. Since the inception of the Merit Program in 1955, some $15.5 million in Merit Scholarships have been awarded to 3132 students. For additional informa­tion see your principal or write National Merit Scholarship Corporation,  1580 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois.

Future Scientists of America

Forstudents in grades 7 through 12 there are regional and national awards based on reports of individual projects in science. This competition is sponsored by the American So­ciety for Metals and conducted by the Future Scientists of America Foundation of the National Science Teachers As­sociation. The closing date for entries is in March. Student entry materials are available from National Science Teachers Association, 1201 16th Street, N.W., Washington 6, D. C.

Junior Engineering Technical Society

JETS chapters are sponsored in high schools by local in­dustry and/or professional groups. The program includes a National Project Exposition with awards and scholarships. Pieces of equipment, such as slide rules and drafting sets, are awarded to junior high school project contest winners. College scholarships are awarded senior high school winners. For information, write to JETS, P.O. 589, East Lansing, Michigan.

National 4-H Congress

The 4-H awards program culminates at the National 4-H Club Congress, where hundreds of members receive recogni­tion and awards, many of which are contributed by industry, foundations and organizations. Experience and training in 4-H activities have started or encouraged the scientific interest of many students who have become national winners in science competitions. For information about your local club, contact your county agricultural agent.

Boy and Girl Scouts of America and Campfire Girls

The experiences and training received in the activities and award programs of these organizations have been responsible for the initial interest of many of their members and have encouraged and broadened the scientific interest of many more. Science Explorer units of Boy Scouts of America have been developed in many areas for older boys.

Local Competitions

A great many civic, fraternal, professional, industrial and other organizations conduct competitions of various kinds for awards ranging from medals to college scholarships. An­nouncement of such competitions is usually made through the school administration and may be posted on the bulletin board in the guidance counselor's office or in classrooms where science courses are taught.

Publication

Once upon a time it was highly improbable, if not impos­sible, for a high school student to have his work published. Now, however, there are journals edited for, and often by, students. These publications are doing a very professional job of providing a medium of exchange for young people's ideas, techniques and gratifyingly mature research. In several states the senior Academy of Sciences recognizes the quality of student research by occasionally publishing papers prepared by members of the Junior Academy.

In addition, an increasing number of professional journals in specific scientific disciplines and general publications of wide circulation are inviting students to submit reports of their work.

Growing popular interest in the achievements of potential scientists is reflected also in the many feature articles pub­lished in magazines and newspapers describing science fairs and congresses, and the projects presented by young par­ticipants.

Such limelight is not only pleasant for those it shines upon, but inspiring and helpful to other beginning scientists. If you are interviewed, photographed or asked to explain your project, remember how important your responses may be in terms of encouragement and understanding for others like you.

If you are invited by a publisher to submit your report for consideration, you will want to prepare your paper as profes­sionally as possible, of course. Teachers and scientists usually are very glad to offer advice and constructive criticism on the organization of your paper and the details of its preparation for submission. (The usual form for a scientific paper is outlined briefly in Chapter 2.)

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