Thoughts on the ISEF

The International Science and Engineering Fair was very impressive. I enjoyed the opportunity to look around at the various projects and the chance to ask a few of the participants of their own opinions on the fair. I had the chance to speak with two students from Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kansas. Their own experience at the fair was positive. They talked about the judges and that while being friendly, they also asked hard questions to make sure that the contestant was up to snuff on their project.

The quality of the projects at the fair was also quite impressive. One notable project was by a group of students from Beijing, China. Their project made use of a 25 meter radio antenna to measure the remains of a supernova. While the principle behind the project was actually quite simple, the lengths they went to to gather their data was indicative of many of the other projects I deemed to be “good.” It is apparent that many of the projects had professional help in one form or another, with the students still doing the bulk of the work including the data analysis and the actual development of the project.

Presentation is everything, and the projects where the students did most of the work are easily visible and noteworthy. While demonstrating comprehension of the project is important (through interactive demonstrations for example) it is also important to pay attention to how the project is displayed. I saw several projects that, honestly, looked like a 2 nd grader had hastily put together. On the other end of the scale, the most interesting and eye catching displays had computer’s set up (to the extent of even having several monitors) and colorful yet detailed graphs, charts, and computer renderings.

While I needed to leave Atlanta early so that I would be present for my graduation ceremony and other festivities, my science teacher and advisor for the project, Mr. Peterie, took note of some of the winning projects at the fair. The ceremony, as he put it, is nearly a day long ordeal, lasting several hours as there are several awards to hand out. A special awards ceremony is held the night before the main ceremony and it includes awards from companies and any scholarships that are awarded are most likely to be handed out that night. The primary awards ceremony focuses primarily on the top projects in certain categories and then of course the top awards at the whole competition.

What constitutes an award winning project? Mr. Peterie took note that most of the projects that received top awards also received professional help during the development and testing of the project. This professional help typically came from local universities and colleges. It was not uncommon though to see companies getting involved and helping out with certain projects. While my own project received some help in the beginning in the development of the project, little help was sought during the actual testing of the project, primarily due to the availability of testing resources that allowed everything to be done at school. As Mr. Peterie put it, my project, while on par with the quality and depth of the other top projects, would have only made it as high as fourth place simply due to the fact that little professional help was given.

My own opinions on the matter of professional assistance are similar. I believe that if a student can do a quality project without the help, that would be great. At the same time, it is through those who are knowledgeable in the field that the student will be able to learn the most about the project they are doing. Thorough conclusions can be drawn and more accurate representations of the data can be achieved through this professional assistance.

Overall, my experience was very positive and I enjoyed the opportunity to go to Atlanta to observe the ISEF. Though I was only in Atlanta for 24 hours before graduation commitments called me home, I was able to learn a lot about the caliber of project and person that it takes to get to the ISEF. I hope that my observations will prove helpful in the future as the Kansas Science and Engineering Fair expands and sends students to compete on a world stage against some of the most creative minds that the 21 st Century is procuring.

Thank you for the opportunity and experience,

Paul Knightly