1. When you participate in science fairs at school, the results may be published in your school and local papers. Search for the earliest published articles about ISEF research projects on the Science News website. Describe one of the projects the article discusses. 

Possible student response: The article “San Jose hosts 2001 science competition,” published 5/19/2001, mentions Monika Paroder of New York City, who conducted biochemistry research that examined iodide transport in the thyroid and other parts of the body.

2. Search for an article about an ISEF project that researched a topic related to the field of medicine. Describe the project. 

Possible student response: The article “When fair means superb: Young scientists and engineers meet in international competition,” published 5/18/2005, mentions the work of Stephen Schulz, who manufactured synthetic flavonoids. Flavonoids are molecules produced by plants and have cancer- and disease-fighting potential. He also developed a way to measure the effects of the molecules.

3. Search for an article about an ISEF project that researched a topic related to space. Describe the project. 

Possible student response: The article “Test flight: young scientists earn—and spread—their wings,” published 5/21/2003, tells about Lisa Doreen Glukhovsky winning top prize for her research in determining the distance from Earth to more than a dozen potentially Earth-colliding asteroids using telescope images. NASA has used Glukhovsky’s data to refine its orbital calculations for those potential celestial threats.

4. Search for an article that describes research on a topic similar to a project that you described in one of the above questions, but that was not completed as part of ISEF. Describe the similarities and differences between the research questions addressed in the projects. 

Possible student response: The article “Survey probes cosmos from near to far,” published 6/6/2001, discusses the idea that the position and brightness of galaxies in the universe can help answer questions about the formation of galaxies. While Glukhovsky’s research looks at measuring distances to understand the potential paths of celestial bodies in motion, both inquiries use light waves to collect data.