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How do daddy longlegs develop such unusual legs? Can genetically engineered micro organism assist us detect buried land mines? Why does snow typically flip purple? Can Saturn’s rings assist to disclose what’s taking place within the planet’s core?
If you click on on any of those articles, you’ll see that they’re written for a basic reader. Special technical or scientific data just isn’t required, and every is designed to get our consideration and maintain it — by giving us “news we can use” in our personal lives, or by exploring one thing fascinating in a means that makes it straightforward to know and reveals us why it issues.
That’s what Times journalists do daily throughout our Science, Health and Technology sections, and it’s what Science News and Science News for Students do on their websites too, the place journalists clarify issues just like the moon’s orbital wobble, “zombie” wildfires and the way sleep might have an effect on take a look at scores.
For this contest, The Learning Network invitations you to deliver that very same spirit of inquiry and discovery to discovering a STEM-related query, idea or subject you’re all for, and, in 500 phrases or fewer, explaining it to a basic viewers in a means that not solely helps us perceive, but in addition engages us and makes us see why it’s essential.
So what questions do you have about how the world works? What science, know-how, engineering, math or well being questions may be impressed by your individual life or experiences? What improvements, processes or issues in any of those areas puzzle or intrigue you? What ideas in STEM — whether or not from biology, physics, psychology, laptop science, algebra or calculus — have you ever discovered about, in or out of college, that may be helpful or enjoyable to clarify to others?
The better of this sort of writing contains three components we’ll be asking you to incorporate, too:
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It begins with an interesting hook to get readers’ consideration and make us care concerning the topic.
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It quotes consultants and/or contains analysis on the subject to present context and credibility.
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It explains why the subject issues. Why do you care? Why ought to we care? Whom or what does it have an effect on, why and the way? How is it related to broader questions within the discipline, to the world right now and to our personal lives.
Take a take a look at the complete pointers and associated assets under. Please publish any questions you have got within the feedback and we’ll reply you there, or write to us at [email protected].
How to Submit
This contest begins on Feb. 2, 2022. We will add hyperlinks to the submission types right here on the day the competition opens.
Students ages 11 to 19 wherever on the planet attending center or highschool can take part. Students ages 13 to 19 years previous within the United States and the United Kingdom, and college students ages 16 to 19 years previous wherever else on the planet, can submit their very own entries. Younger college students can have an grownup submit on their behalf.
1. Choose a STEM matter you care about.
Maybe it’s one thing private — you simply came upon you’re nearsighted and also you need to know what which means, otherwise you need to be taught concerning the mind and create extra environment friendly examine habits.
Or, perhaps it’s one thing cool you noticed in science lab that you just’d like to clarify, or a phenomenon you’ve seen in your individual neighborhood, faculty or yard that you just’d like to research. It may very well be a subject you already know an awesome deal about and need to clarify to others, or one thing you’ve by no means thought of till now.
Please select one thing you might be genuinely inquisitive about. We’ve been working pupil writing contests for over a decade, and one factor we all know for positive is that the perfect writing is impressed by college students’ actual pursuits, not from a one-size-fits-all task given to a whole class.
2. Make positive your matter is slender sufficient that you could cowl it properly in 500 phrases or fewer.
You in all probability can’t clarify all the circulatory system inside our phrase restrict, however you in all probability can clarify why the center retains beating. You in all probability can’t get throughout all of the considering and analysis on the science of happiness, however you in all probability can select one research-backed advice and discover it.
3. Do analysis, and cite your sources.
For this contest, we’re partnering with Science News. At least certainly one of your sources should be from both The New York Times, Science News OR its sister web site, Science News for Students. But after all you should use all three, and every other further sources.
We offer you a separate discipline to make an inventory of sources you used to put in writing your article or essay. You can format your record nonetheless you need; we is not going to choose your entry primarily based on formatting on this part. And, inside citations should not vital.
We additionally encourage you to interview consultants whose work is related to your chosen matter. But that doesn’t imply it’s important to name the top of the U.S. Forest Service if you wish to write about butterfly habitats. You can discuss to an area park ranger or gardener who has expertise with and in depth data concerning the matter.
And, after all, a part of your analysis might be your individual investigations. Let’s say you’re writing about youngsters’ use of e-books. You would possibly survey your individual class or grade about their habits and preferences, then use these findings in your piece.
4. But be very cautious to place quotations round any direct quotes you employ, and to quote the supply of something you paraphrase.
If we put a sentence out of your submission right into a search engine, we don’t need to discover it wherever else — until you’re clearly quoting or citing that supply.
5. Your submission should be 500 phrases or fewer, not together with the title.
6. Here is the rubric that reveals precisely what we’re in search of.
7. Please submit just one entry per pupil.
Write your essay by your self or with a gaggle, however please submit just one essay per pupil. If you might be working as a group, simply bear in mind to submit your entire names if you publish your entry. And for those who’re submitting as a part of a group, you shouldn’t additionally submit as a person.
8. The deadline for this contest is Wednesday, March 9, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.
We present a small window of time after that deadline to permit for technical difficulties. However, in some unspecified time in the future after the deadline, our contest submission kind closes and you’ll not be allowed to submit an entry, so please be aware of the deadline and submit early.
Resources for Teachers and Students
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to your questions on judging, the foundations and instructing with this contest. Please learn these completely and, for those who nonetheless can’t discover what you’re in search of, publish your question within the feedback or write to us at [email protected].
QUESTIONS ABOUT JUDGING
How will my essay be judged?
Your work shall be learn by journalists from The New York Times and Science News in addition to by Learning Network employees members and STEM educators from across the United States. We will use this rubric to guage entries.
What is the “prize”?
Having your work printed on The New York Times Learning Network.
When will the winners be introduced?
About two months after the competition has closed.
My essay wasn’t chosen as a winner. Can you inform me why?
We obtain hundreds of entries for this contest, so, sadly, our group doesn’t have the capability to supply particular person suggestions on every pupil’s essay.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RULES
Who is eligible to take part on this contest?
For this contest, we invite college students ages 11 to 19 in center faculty or highschool to enter. For college students within the United States, we think about center faculty to start in sixth grade; college students outdoors of the United States should be not less than 11 years previous to enter.
The youngsters and stepchildren of New York Times staff should not eligible to enter this contest. Nor are college students who dwell in the identical family as these staff.
If you aren’t positive in case you are eligible for this contest (for instance, for those who’re taking a niche 12 months), please see our extra detailed eligibility guidelines.
My essay was printed in my faculty newspaper. Can I submit it to this contest?
No. We ask that your essay be unique for this contest. Please don’t submit something you have got already printed on the time of submission, whether or not in a college newspaper, for an additional contest or wherever else.
Do I would like a Works Cited web page?
Yes. We offer you a separate discipline to record the sources you used to put in writing your essay. You’re allowed to format your record nonetheless you need; we is not going to choose your entry primarily based on formatting on this part. Internal citations should not vital.
Can I’ve another person examine my work?
We perceive that college students will usually revise their work primarily based on suggestions from academics and friends. That is allowed for this contest. However, make sure that the ultimate submission displays the concepts, voice and writing capability of the coed, not another person.
Who can I contact if I’ve questions on this contest or am having points submitting my entry?
Leave a touch upon this publish or write to us at [email protected].
QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST
I’m a instructor. What assets do it’s important to assist me train with this contest?
Start with our unit plan for informational writing. It contains writing prompts, mentor texts and lesson plans that may assist this contest.
You may also invite your college students to learn the winners of final 12 months’s contest to get inspiration for their very own work.
Do my college students want a New York Times subscription to entry these assets?
No. All of the assets on The Learning Network are free.
If your college students don’t have a subscription to The New York Times, they will additionally get entry to Times items via The Learning Network. All the actions for college students on our web site, together with mentor texts and writing prompts, plus the Times articles they hyperlink to, are free. Students can seek for articles utilizing the search instrument on our house web page. In the remainder of The Times, they will entry as much as 5 free articles a month.
How do my college students show to me that they entered this contest?
After they submit their essays, college students ought to obtain an e-mail from The New York Times with the topic heading “Thank you for your submission to our STEM Writing Contest,” which they will ahead to you to point out their entry has been accepted.
This contest is a collaboration with the Society for Science & the Public, writer of Science News, a supply of unbiased nonprofit journalism on the most recent in science, drugs and know-how since 1921, Science News for Students and the Science News in High Schools program.
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