Is Your Child Up for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge?

My daughter just turned 11 last week, she’s a 5th grader.  She’s bright and has so much going for her.  She is surrounded by technology at home and yet I find it interesting when I ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she is interested in a more traditional female role of teaching.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the teaching profession is an awesome career choice and I already know she’s great at teaching.  What I find interesting is that at her age, I wanted to be either a nurse or a teacher.  In fact, most of my girlfriends did too.

With so many career options out there today, I can’t help but wonder if our daughters…or even our sons…even know  about the multitude of choices out there.  That’s why I am such a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fan for anything that inspires my children to learn more about these fields of study.

Recently, I became aware of the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge which targets kids in grades 5 – 8, to come up with a unique solution to a common problem.  Kids are encouraged to think of a recurring problem…either that happens to them or their families…or even a problem that occurs worldwide.  They then do research to see what science or technology they could use to solve the problem.  Finally, they surmise it into a 1-2 minute video.  It’s kind of like a science fair project on steroids…only you don’t necessarily need to completely solve the problem yourself, just research the type of technology/science that might need to be used to solve it.

Research shows that kids began to lose interest in science during the middle school years.  3M created this contest to encourage the exploration of scientific concepts while finding ways to communicate their findings creatively.  The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge gives kids a personal reason (outside of school) to research a topic that interests them…based on the fun of solving their own discovered problem.  It provides kids with the opportunity to think outside of the box and see the power they have inside of them to create solutions to problems…even though they are “just a kid.”

This year marks the 15th year of 3M’s annual challenge.  Thousands of kids have participated in this challenge and winners have gone on to work with top scientists, meet President Obama, and speak in front of Congress.  The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge has inspired kids and helped them get excited about pursuing a career in the sciences, where they may have never thought about it before.

The Prize(s)

But there is more to the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge than just the journey.  3M will award a $25,000 prize and the title of  “America’s Top Young Scientist,” to the winner.  The winner will also receive an all expenses paid trip to Costa Rica.  And the top 10 finalists will receive an all expenses paid trip to Minneapolis to present their innovations to a board of distinguished panelists.  There will also be up to 51 State Merit winners.

The Deadline

The deadline to submit your child’s 1-2 minute video surmising his/her problem and solution is approaching soon, April 22nd in fact.  Now I know what you may be thinking…oh forget it, there’s no way my child can do all this by then.  I know this because I had the same thought myself.  But it’s two weeks and what if you did make the time to try out for the challenge?  If anything, it would be a great learning experience, your child would learn that companies are interested in their opinions, and at the very least, you’ll know better what to do and how to prepare for next year’s contest.

How to Start

OK, really, the biggest task to conquer in starting the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge is to figure out which problem to solve.  I know my daughter would need the most help with this.  Here are some questions I found on the challenge’s website to help flush an idea out…

TEN QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

1. What kinds of problems are in the news?
2. What kinds of problems do you see in your community every day?
3. What kinds of problems do you hear your parents/friends complain about?
4. Why does the problem exist?
5. What are some of the circumstances that could have led to the problem?
6. Who is involved in causing the problem?  Does it affect your community?  Other communities?
7. Which problem most interests you?
8. Which problem seems the most important to help solve?
9. Which problem provided you with the most facts during your research?
10. Which problem provides you with the best opportunity to use science to solve it?

As you think about the problem, the key is to come up with a new product (not a new use of an existing product) based on this problem.  Help your child think innovatively, out of the box.  Then do research on Google to learn how the science/technology other products works that might have relevance to your child’s idea.

To get a good idea of other videos kids submitted in previous years, see the Video Topics on the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.  There’s a lot of creativity.

Enter the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge

Kids in 5th grade through 8th grade can submit their applications and video through April 22nd through the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge website.  This is pretty exciting, based on the initial video entries, 10 finalists will be chosen to work with a 3M scientists during a Summer mentorship to create an Innovation which will presented to the final judges in October in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Wow, what an opportunity!  The deadline ends on April 22nd, so hurry!

A Mom’s Perspective

The U.S. Bureau of Statistics predicts that STEM based jobs will grow by over 20% in the next five years.  Currently, on 25% of this workforce is filled by women, according to the White House Council on Women and Girls 1.  That’s quite a gap.  Hands-on is the  best way for students to learn, but with all the pressures of student aptitude test scores, hands-on does not get the focus it should in schools.  Programs like  Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge help empower your child to think differently and learn on a project that is interesting to him/her.

I have been talking to my daughter about joining this challenge too.   She has been thinking about possible ideas.  I welcome challenges like this to get us out of our routine and give us a reason to explore ideas my daughter has that could make a difference in the world and give her a vision of what is possible in her future.

1. http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/05/31/college-mentors-key-to-prospective-female-stem-majors)

*  This is a sponsored post for the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, one that we excitedly took on as we’d like to encourage more girls to be excited about STEM in their lives.