Rethinking High-School Science Fairs—Asterisk

America’s earliest science fairs gave students the chance to do independent research. Today, they’re a competitive gloss to glorified internships. It’s time for a new format.

Rethinking High-School Science Fairs—Asterisk America’s earliest science fairs gave students the chance to do independent research. Today, they’re a competitive gloss to glorified internships. It’s time for a new format. At a certain point, when enough data has come in, you have to acknowledge your experiment has failed. The competitive high school science fair machine keeps churning — one of the largest competitive fairs runs more than 350 feeder fairs and offers over $9 million in annual prizes — but science fairs have drifted a long way from their original purpose. They no longer serve elit

saved by

• Derek Yen
• sachi c
• Raffi Hotter
• Lydia Nottingham
• Michael Li
• Eva Seigneurbieux
• Henry Zimmerman
• Lingfei Tang
• Chris Shi
• Anna Brandenberger

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