Abstract. This paper will first explain the history and philosophy of the American Junior Academy of Sciences (Am JAS). We wil give the results of a national teacher survey that discusses how student projects are chosen, why doing a project gives a student an advantage, and finally give a brief comparison between American students and students from other countries.

The American Junior Academy of Science (AmJAS) is composed of America’s brightest high school science research students. Selection of these “best of the best” researchers is based on statewide selection of scientific research projects whose quality and sophistication are usually remarkable. Students are selected from the forty-four affiliated state senior academies to be honored and represent their state’s organization at the national level. Several million students compete at local, regional, and state levels of each participating state academy with about one hundred fifty chosen to represent their state at the national AmJAS convention.

AmJAS (http://www.amjas.org ) is a talented and vigorous organization sponsored by the National Association of Academies of Science (NAAS; http://astro.physics.sc.edu/NAAS/), the national parent organization of state academies and an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS; http://www.aaas.org), the publisher of Science. AmJAS student delegates share their research at both the AmJAS and AAAS scientific community.

Since AJAS, NAAS and AAAS annual meetings are concurrent, student delegates have an unparalleled opportunity to meet and interact with scientists from many different disciplines and countries. For example, AmJAS delegates were on hand in San Francisco in 2001 when Francis Collins formally released the sequence of the human genome (http://www.jcjc.edu/org/ajas/archives.

As part of the AAAS meetings, AmJAS delegates give both oral and poster presentations of their award winning research projects. They attend AAAS scientific sessions, and tour university campuses and historical sites. One important highlight is always the annual "Breakfast with Scientists," a morning roundtable discussion of educational opportunities and career objectives with notable scientists. Breakfast invitations are extended to scientists attending the NAAS and AAAS meetings and faculty at nearby universities. More than ten Nobel laureates have attended the breakfast in the past three years. Student delegates may talk with scientists with similar interests, as well as with those in different fields of study. The climax of the five-day convention is the awards banquet; a formal event at which each student and chaperone is awarded a certificate and state delegation photographs are taken. Delegates leave the convention having formed a lasting global network of friendships with other high ability and very motivated young scientists.

AmJAS has no income; therefore NAAS board members solicit commercial sponsorships while the state academies or the delegates raise their own funds. Connections with potential sponsors have been made through mutual contacts. An example of this happened in 2001. Harvard University was the AmJAS educational host. Our Harvard hosts mentioned a pharmaceutical company, AstraZenca, which they thought might be interested in supporting our events. Information was sent to a specific company vice president. Experience has shown us that it is much better to contact a specific person. After AstraZenca agreed to support the “Breakfast with Scientists,” the vice president himself attended the breakfast where he met our young scientists. He left that breakfast quite convinced of the value of their sponsorship. Needless to say, AstraZenca has been on board as a faithful sponsor every since.

Some sponsorship has been established during the AAAS/AmJAS convention. As student researchers display their posters on the same floor with AAAS commercial exhibits, potential sponsors view the posters and see for themselves the caliber of these young scientists. Most conventions will find the NAAS board talking with the various convention vendors about AmJAS students. It really helps that these potential sponsors have seen for themselves the outstanding research of AmJAS student delegates.

Each year about 120-175 students and 75 teachers/chaperones attend the AmJAS convention. These students are unique in that they have developed research projects that were judged by senior scientists to be of merit. More importantly, often their work was guided under the auspices of their science teacher(s) and/or senior scientist mentors. How did these students decide on a research topic? How do they establish contact with senior scientist? Here is a brief overview of the process in the United States.

The hardest step is the first step, that is, to decide on a research project. There are two main components, the student’s and the instructor’s roles. To help decide on a project, students may ask themselves questions such as:

If you have limited access to technological research equipment, then look at other avenues for a project. Here are a few hints:

Instructors can foster and encourage students by:

Students and instructors must spend much time one-on-one to develop factual knowledge, lab techniques, etc. Many states have courses in which research is part of the core requirement. Some states have “Math and Science” high schools. In other states, instructors spend extra time beyond the normal class time, most often without financial compensation. Some instructors and students have to pay their own expenses if they are selected to move to state or national competitions (AmJAS conventions), but the school’s sports team involved in state and national games would not.

So what are the rewards? Deep within the heart of many of American teachers is the love of breaking traditional rote learning. The rich educational experience of science research entices the young researcher into a new and exciting world of science. Traditional science relies on memorization of an incredible amount of trivial information; research makes that information come alive in the students. By far, more students with research experience are accepted into science programs at major universities than uninvolved students. I’d like to tell the story of a young average “C” student from Kentucky. This young man found a research topic that he really liked. He was chosen to represent Kentucky at numerous state and national conferences. He is now an “A” student that will attend a major US university to study science. Another young scientist developed a measuring instrument that is available for purchase from “Frey Scientific,” a well known scientific supply house.

Once the students are chosen by their state academies to attend AmJAS, they are eligible to apply to attended international science camp. Four US high school students and I attend the International Science and Engineering Camp 2004 (ISEC 2004) in Pohang, South Korea. By far, the US students had more research lab experience. Preliminary reports from APEC (Beijing, China) this past summer indicate a similar situation among the counties represented at that camp. Individuals on the US teams typically spent two to three years on their individual research topics. The major contributing factor to the American students’ research experience is either attendance at “Math and Science” high schools, or their dedicated science teachers electing to make inquiry-based research a graded component of their courses.

The situation in the US is in contrast to the reports given by groups of international educators at ISEC 2004. Asian educators reported that many of their students study in “accessory schools” until late in the evenings. Students are severely limited in their access to research labs. College professors have little incentive to work with secondary school students. Teachers were not trained to assist student with research or to how to encourage the creativity that is necessary in pursuit of an active research project. Students, also, seemed reluctant to pursue a research project by themselves.

Clearly, mentoring high school researchers is a time-consuming process. There are not as many American teachers teaching research-based science courses as in the past. The American undergraduate college curriculum for high school educators does not include “how –to” techniques on mentoring students. This is a factor in declining number of projects submitted to numerous competitive regional, state and national science fairs. Each year the nucleus of research involved students across the U.S. gets smaller and smaller. Even on the college level, there are great concerns about students entering the sciences. The effect transcends to graduate schools where positions are being filled with students from abroad.

AmJAS is looking to the future realizing that scientific advances are becoming more global in nature. We are establishing international ties with Japan, Israel (Weizmann Institute), China, and Korea. We invite collaboration with the nations and institutions that are represented at this conference. We realize that tomorrow’s realities are the dreams that begin today. Our dream is that, world-wide, all educators will be better equipped to lead future young scientists into the profession of science. AmJAS wants to have a role in encouraging those young scientists in making a career in science a reality in their lives.

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks goes to Jerry Guo (SC), Dorcas Green (SC), Nevin Longenecker (IN), Marcia Gillette (IN), Glenn Zwanzig (KY ), Rose Hemphill (OR), Patricia Zalo (FL), Mel Stephen (MA), Peter Langley (OR), and Sister Mary Ethel Parrott.