Re:Science Fairs Aren't So Fair
by primitivesuave on Sunday March 15, 2015 @08:07PM
(#9208839)
I get what you're saying. Think about it from the perspective of the dishonest student though - they're handed a project that does some amazing thing, and need to pass it off as their own work. Unless they have the domain knowledge around that amazing thing, they couldn't possibly have done the amazing thing, and science fair bullshitters are generally not willing to put in the time to get a deep understanding of the area their BS'd project is in. The student I mentioned had a deep knowledge of cryptography, and with that understanding and the knowledge of relevant scientific research, was able to build something new that did an amazing thing. But if he was handed that project, I doubt he would have the motivation to research crypto to the extent that he did, or be conversant with another person. And most importantly, he knew what he didn't know.
I've seen, first-hand, kids who were coached to perfection at this sort of thing. And they could easily pass your test: one common pattern is for the kid to be handed a "project" that is pre-conceptualized and nearly complete, and have them do the last 5% of work in consultation with a senior researcher (typically a post-doc).
The kid basically flails around for a while, struggles a lot, and learns to talk the talk, but doesn't do much of anything in terms of productive work. So they'll struggle like crazy and hang around brilliant, hard-working people (and therefore be humbled and able to pass your test), but that doesn't mean they did the research.
Doing a research project end-to-end takes years of concerted effort. It's almost completely unrealistic to think that a high school senior has put in the time.