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.

2007 Young Scinetist Challenge team
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.

Erik Gustafson
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, Too
Middle 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.