How the Young Scientist Challenge Works

Browse the article How the Young Scientist Challenge Works

Introduction to How the Young Scientist Challenge Works

Get Started
Interested in competing in the Young Scientist Challenge? Submissions must be made by June 15, 2008. Find out more.

All of us have taken a science class at one time or another. Some recall science with feelings of excitement, wonder and awe. Some continue their studies in science throughout the rest of their education. And some even take their love of all things science and make a career out of it. But for many, science is not a happy subject. Do you think back to studying science and get a feeling of dread, anxiety or fear? When did you lose interest in science -- sometime around middle school? Well, you're not alone.

Discovery Communications, 2007
Christopher Mowers, Muhammad Abu-Rmaileh and Joshua Hammer pay close attention to host Rhonda Reist at the 2007 DiscoverEducation/3M Young Scientist Challenge.

Studies have shown that an interest in science is either piqued or lost in middle school [source: National Science Teachers Association]. Think back to that time in your life. It probably wasn't the best time, was it? That time is full of awkwardness, pain and peer pressure. At that age, children begin to really grow and mature. And in doing that, they begin to find out what they're really interested in. But children are also extremely impressionable, and their friends may not like the interests they're developing. Let's face it -- science and math aren't the most glamorous subjects around, and kids don't want to seem uncool. So they give up science and move on to study other things.

But those kids who give up science and math miss so much that it's nearly impossible for them to catch up to their peers. At that point, science and math are lost to them forever. So educators are taking a proactive stance and doing everything they can to keep interests high -- they want science and math to be cool again. But it's not just teachers that are noticing the danger of losing students. Corporations are, too. After all, if no one is studying science, who's going to come to work for them one day? Two companies are even partnering to promote science nationally. Discovery Education and 3M have come together to present a national science competition, the Young Scientist Challenge.

Discovery Communications, 2007
The yellow team's Christopher Mowers and Bethany Johnson work on "The Hot and Cold Of It" chemistry challenge at the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge.

How does this challenge work? Who can participate, and how do students get started? And what about science teachers? Is there a contest for them, too? Read on to find out how you can become a young scientist -- that is, if you are, in fact, young.

The Young Scientist Challenge from the Beginning

The challenge began 10 years ago after Discovery Communications noticed the waning interest in science. After reading the studies about middle school children, it wanted to do something to make it exciting. So the company created a contest in the hopes of making science fun. Over the past 10 years, 540,000 students have competed for a nomination to participate in the challenge, with 54,000 of those winning that nomination. And only nine have won the title of America's Top Young Scientist of the Year [source: Discovery Education].

If you want to be the 10th Young Scientist, crack open your computer and bust out your video camera. If you're in the fifth through the eighth grades, you can register at Discovery Education. Once registration has been completed and accepted, it's time to get creative.

Discovery Communications, 2007
The yellow team's Catherine Soto works on a solution to "The Hot and Cold of It," while Muhammad Abu-Rmaileh, Josh Hammer and Chris Mowers look on at the 2007 Discovery Education/ 3M Young Scientist Challenge at the University of Maryland.

Each year the judges (whom we'll talk about later) choose a theme for the challenge. And this year, they've gone out of this world: the Science of Space. That's a huge topic, but don't let that scare you. Along with the theme, the judges also release topics for students to focus on. This helps to keep everything fair -- and not overwhelming. The topics for this year are:

Design and implement an engaging method to demonstrate and explain the Doppler effect. What is it? What information can be obtained from observing it in nature?
Demonstrate the nature of a parabola, paraboloid or parabolic mirror. What is the importance of that shape to the space program, communications or energy consumption issues?
Demonstrate and explain graphically, or with props, why the sky appears blue. Use common, everyday materials rather than professional scientific equipment.
Explain or demonstrate the nature of a spacecraft's orbital path. How is the orbit achieved? What sustains it? Provide a simple analogy; one understandable to a person with little or no knowledge of physics.
Demonstrate a novel approach for explaining how the field around a conductor carrying an electric current, and the field around a magnet, can exert a force on each other. Be creative!
Explain and demonstrate either the Bernoulli Principle or the Venturi Effect......or both! The windier or wetter, the better.

[source: Discovery Education]

Once you pick your topic, it's time to start writing. But you'll need to write a script instead of an essay. For the first time, students will be required to submit a video showing off their knowledge of their topic of choice. But think twice before you hire actors or a director. Videos will be accepted only if the student is the only one in the video and if the video is obviously done by the student. "Producing" isn't allowed.

Discovery Communications, 2007
Team Grey members Matthew Mooney, Shubha Raghvendra, Morgan Monroe, Benjamin Song and Kyrillos Tawadros pose with a DCYSC ice sculpture after completing the "Water, Water Everywhere" challenge at the University of Maryland's Greenhouse Facility at the 2007 Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge.

You better keep it short and sweet, too. Video submissions have to be longer than 60 seconds but can't exceed 120 seconds. In those two minutes, the judges will be looking for creativity, relevance, persuasiveness, classroom suitability and overall presentation. Once your video is ready to go, upload it to the Web site and sit tight. Discovery will alert you of the winners in July. But you're not in the clear yet. Of those 51 winners (one from each state and the District of Columbia), only 10 will be officially invited to attend the challenge in Washington, D.C.

So who are these judges we keep talking about? When and where is the actual challenge? And most importantly, what does the winner get? See the next section to find out.

The Finals of the Young Scientist Challenge

Steven Jacobs is an accomplished scientist, teacher and author with more than two decades of experience and three advanced degrees. He's also the head judge for the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge. Judge Jake, as the contestants refer to him, is accompanied on the judge's panel by a mixture of historians, producers, physicians, marine biologists and other scientists. As we mentioned in the previous section, the judges determine the theme and the topics, as well as watch all of the video submissions and narrow the contestants down to 10. But the judges are also responsible for what the contestants have to do when they arrive in Washington, D.C., in October.

Discovery Communications, 2007
Blue team members Erik Gustafson and Samantha Gonzalez explain their ideas to their team and the judges in the "Water, Water, Everywhere" challenge at the University of Maryland at the 2007 Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge.

Over the course of three days, October 4-7 this year, the contestants will face a series of challenges laid out by the judges. What kind of challenges, you ask? No one will know until the competition begins. It's top secret. Some past challenges have included building greenhouses to seal off CO2 and investigating serious health concerns. The only hint this year's batch of contestants gets is that all of the challenges will revolve around the theme, the Science of Space.

The challenges are designed to highlight a student's leadership, teamwork, problem-solving skills and communication. At the end of the competition one student will stand out next to the other finalists, and he or she will be named America's Top Young Scientist of the Year. And while the title's nice, let's get to the prizes.

Discovery Communications, 2007
The 2007 winners of the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge: Katherine Strube (2nd place), Erik Gustafson (1st place), and Ambrose Soehn (3rd place)

The winner is not the only one who gets awards. Each of the 51 semifinalists will get $250, along with a certificate and T-shirt. The 10 finalists will get these things, as well as a paid trip to the competition, $1,000 and a medal. But this is nothing compared to what the grand prize winner gets: all of the above items, plus a $50,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a trophy and bragging rights for being the smartest kid on the block.

For more information on the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge, all things science and related topics, see the links on the next page. The information in the next section could also help you with research for your very own entrance video.

Teachers are Competitors, TooMiddle school students aren't the only ones who can compete for top billing. There's a contest just for science teachers, too. The registration and video submission processes are the same as for the students, but the requirements are a little bit different. Only teachers who are members of the Discovery Educator Network are permitted to participate. The teachers must choose from a list of "pain points" that are hard to teach and then make a video of themselves teaching it. These pain points are:

Newton's Laws of Motion
Acceleration
The first "A" in NASA: Aeronautics
Centrifugal and Centripetal Force
Scope and Scale

In August, Judge Jake and his team of judges will select five finalists to come to Washington, D.C., the same weekend as the students and compete in their own set of challenges. The winner will be named Top Science Teacher of the Year.

Lots More Information

Consumer Guide:

How the Young Scientist Challenge Works