09 April 2004

Amateur science is booming among U.S. middle and high school students

Each year hundreds of thousands of students enter projects in various science fairs and competitions. Many of the projects entered in these competitions are superb examples of amateur science conducted by students having little or no technical assistance and even less financial support. Some of the 944 projects at the 2004 ExxonMobil Texas State Science Fair. Click image to enlarge.

Those who doubt that amateur scientists can perform productive and creative science studies might have a change of mind if they visit one of the many student science competitions. For example, on 25-27 March, the ExxonMobil Texas State Science Fair was held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The accompanying photograph shows some of the 944 projects that participated in this competition.

Forrest M. Mims III.