Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!umich!yale!cmcl2!mcclb0.med.nyu.edu!smith From: smith@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu Newsgroups: bionet.general Subject: Re: Westinghouse Project Message-ID: <1990Nov5.065704.6949@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu> Date: 5 Nov 90 10:57:04 GMT References: <9011050217.AA02448@genbank.bio.net> Organization: NYU Medical Center, New York, NY, USA Lines: 35 In article <9011050217.AA02448@genbank.bio.net>, SCF7@manvax.bitnet ("MYRNA E. WATANABE") writes: > Regarding the suggested Westinghouse Projects that came over the net > from mmm@cup.portal.com and Roy's request (which I deleted by mistake): > this brings up the question of whether a high school student who requests > a Westinghouse or Science Fair project should be handed it from a research > scientist. > > ... the general attitude is that the students SHOULD NOT be > going into the labs asking for a Westinghouse or Science Fair project. If > a scientist asks about this, he or she is usually told that they should > tell the student: "You are welcome to work in my laboratory to learn what > it is like to be a research scientist and learn laboratory techniques. If > your only goal is the completion of a project for competition, then you > should not be working here. If, in the course of your work here, a > Westinghouse or Science Fair project develops, I will do whatever I can to > assist you, with the understanding that this project is mainly your own > work." > ... > The point of this, is the fear that the PROJECT becomes the end all and be > all for the student, and that laboratory experience without the immediate > goal of a project also is valuable (albeit, there is no prize or recognition > or admission to Harvard or MIT here). I absolutely agree. We had a 'Westinghouse' student from a local high school here last year. It was a worthless experience for everybody, and I have NO intention of doing it again. The problem is that the schools send the students out with the charge to 'find a Westinghouse project, dead or alive'. The schools themselves need to realize that this idea of asking every student to get a Westinghouse project is totally inapropriate. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Ross Smith, Cell Biology, NYU Medical Center, 550 First Ave., NYC, 10016| |Phone: (212) 340-5356: FAX: (212) 340-8139 (Alternate NYUMC) (212) 340-7190| |E-Mail: SMITH@NYUMED.BITNET (BITNET), SMITH@MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU (Internet)| +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com