Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!bionet!NRCCAD.NRC.CA!NUM208JN From: NUM208JN@NRCCAD.NRC.CA (JOHN NASH) Newsgroups: bionet.general Subject: Re: Westinghouse Project Message-ID: <9011081031.AA02762@genbank.bio.net> Date: 7 Nov 90 14:29:00 GMT Sender: daemon@genbank.bio.net Lines: 49 G'morning folks, About the following comments on high school students coming into labs for help on Science Fair projects: 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. and ROSS SMITH writes: > 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. Fair enough, but I've had mixed experiences with such students. We've had students come in wanting us to do some fancy cloning experiment for them (and we've gently made them see the light). On the other hand, we've had the pleasant experiences. Last year, we had a pair of students come to use and ask for help in designing a basic anaerobic bioreactor. We gave them the books, a few tips, and they set up the reactor themselves using equipment available from kitchens and hardware stores. We gave them advice (and I believe we analysed some samples through the GC for them) but they did all the real work - setting the reactor up, keeping it alive, etc. They did fairly well... and I believe we should encourage such students. Another year, we had a student do some "Game of Life" programming in conjunction with a population genetics professor, and the student did a good job (by himself)! Maybe the scientists/professors should chat with the students a couple of times, giving them references to look at during the first chat, before committing themselves either way. I've also been a judge at the local Science Fair (post-docs were "encouraged" to do these things at my last place!), and you can tell the original projects during the demonstrations. cheers, John, ---------------------------------------------------------- John Nash Institute for Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. ============================================================ Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com