Earlier this year our son Allen and his friend Jasper Kim won a silver medal at the Vancouver Regional Science Fair. Their experiment involved using magnets to see if magnetism affected plant growth. To the surprise of Allen and Jasper magnetism did affect plant growth positively. They called their experiment “Magnetotropism”.
At a dinner party recently we met David Grant, a nephew of good friends of ours. David has won a gold medal at the Canadian National Science Fair. His girlfriend Clare has won a Platinum medal at the Canadian National Science Fair. Both David and Clare were judges at the Vancouver Regional Science Fair where Allen and Jasper were competing.
Karalee and I spoke with David and Clare about what makes an outstanding science fair project. And what it takes to get to the Canadian National Science Fair. It turns out that you need both passion and something truly unique about your experiment.
We shared this with Allen at breakfast the other day. His response was intriguing. He was not interested in David’s and Clare’s opinion, even though they had been the judges that decided which projects should be up for going to this year’s Canadian National Science Fair. Allen’s opinion was that neither David nor Clare had enough experience in biology to have suggestions for Jasper and himself.
There are two kinds of expertise being referred to here:
- Domain expertise (e.g., depth in biology).
- Process experience (e.g., being the judges that decide what qualifies for going to Nationals).
In life, we often limit ourselves by only being willing to listen to someone with the domain experience we feel they must have. In many cases, the process experience is far more valuable than the domain experience. I know that if I were trying to make it to the Canadian National Science Fair, I would be seeking both David’s and Clare’s advise as judges, no matter what the subject matter was of my science project.
Do you ever limit yourself by ignoring people outside of your area of immediate expertise who could offer a completely new perspective on what you are doing? I know that I have. I hope that Allen and Jasper seek out David’s and Clare’s advice when they devise their next science fair project.
