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Submitting junior/senior projects to experts?


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In the TWTM it says DC should try to submit them to be evaluated by experts and if you can't afford to pay for it, they can practice their persuasive writing. My DD would love to do this in the future but how do you convince people? It's a lot of time to take out and they don't get much out of it so how do you go about persuading people to take a look at it? Has anyone tried this - what were your experiences?

 

Thank you!

 

Rionne :001_smile:

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Yes, but first let me say welcome to the boards, Rionne. I see you are new in these parts.

 

My son is working directly with an expert on his senior project. Last spring, he volunteered at a college archaelogical field school that was held in our area. Later he asked the field director if he was interested in supervising a project. The field director not only agreed--he suggested subject matter and specific books. My son's expert does not live in our part of the state, but with email the two can communicate.

 

Personally, I have always found it difficult to deny the request of an interested student. When a parent asks me to work with her child, I don't always find an interested party. But when a student approaches to ask "Could you help me with this?", how can any adult say no?

 

Jane

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I think that as a parent you can help guide your student to places where experts can be met. For example, you can transport your student to the art museum, aquarium, county commissioners meeting, etc. Also, our 4-H agents have been very helpful in leading kids to experts. When my son wanted to learn how to tie flies for fishing, they hooked him up with someone. I suspect that they would assist students who wanted to meet with professionals in animal husbandry, horticulture, etc. for high school projects.

 

A number of nonprofits are in desperate need of free labor. Our public radio station often puts out a call for volunteers to help stuff envelopes, answer phones, etc. If a student displayed some gumption, they might let him move into our areas.

 

One of the non-profits with which I am involved has some teens who volunteer. The director complains about kids who are not self-starters. The last thing she wants to do is be a babysitter. So be sure that your teen is the one who wants to do the project.

 

Best,

Jane

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My DD is interested in computer science so we're not really sure where to start looking. Could you suggest anything Jane? :)

 

As a matter of fact, yes. Is your DD interested in hardware or software?

 

One quick idea: my son was given an older computer by a neighbor which he retrofitted for a non-profit. He replaced Windows with open source Linux including free office software and loaded a data base which he adapted to the needs of the organization. Then he networked the organization's computers. He is now on call as the "tech guy" for this outfit.

 

My husband has chimed in with another idea: look at the Make magazine website. Not only are there terrific project ideas, there is an entire online and real world community who will provide help.

 

Have fun,

Jane

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You're amazing Jane! :001_smile: DD knows more about software than hardware but she is interested in both. She's also got the basics of web design down. She's got a collection of computers people have given to her in her bedroom which I don't quite get... :D She owns more computers/laptops than the rest of the household put together.

 

We've bought her 'Networking for Dummies' but I'm not sure if she'll be able to work through it without ordering some parts (yes, I'm not the most technical person!) as she worked through 'HTML for Dummies' when she was a kid by skipping the boring parts and testing the actual coding until she worked it out. She's like a typical man - never mind the instruction booklet! :lol:

 

I told DD about Make magazine so guess what she's doing tommorow? :D

 

Do you also happen to know if it's actually possible for someone to want to be a computer scientist and actually hate ordinary science? It's driving me crazy!

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