<p>I have read about so many kids who do research in high school and am also fortunate to have the oppurtunity to do some research this summer. However, i have always wondered how much research is actually done by the students and how much is done by the mentor or professor they work under. Are the projects created by the students themselves? It seems that the projects in Intel and ISEF are so advanced that there can't be that many prodigies who can create those kind of projects all on their own. obviously there are some...</p>
<p>Um, most the the time where I live, students just go along with what the mentor and professor is doing at the time since there are also other students (like undergrads) working with them on the project. But this is at a university, so it might be different.</p>
<p>i thought that most of the time projects at isef were done entirely by the student (exept parts that they are not allowed to do.) and you could only use a research institution to use the equiptment there and all that your mentor could do (if you hade a mentor) was to show you how to use the equiptment.</p>
<p>When I worked in a lab last summer (not RSI or anything at that level), I was given a project to work on. It was a small part of the work the graduate student who I was working with was doing. Essentially, I had to decide what to do and how to do it. The principal investigator (faculty member) and grad student were there to provide guidance, suggestions, help etc.</p>
<p>There was an interesting debate a while back in the Parents Forum about how Intel winners actually got there. Some people were arguing that the level of work done was impossible for a high school student to do without significant help.</p>
<p>(I was a Siemens semifinalist and I didn't enter any of the science fairs)</p>
<p>How do you form a team for competitions like Siemens Westinghouse? If I get an internship (I'm a freshman), I'm hoping to enter Siemens Westinghouse in a team because you cannot enter as an indvidual until 12th grade. I've seen so many teams where the students were from completely different parts of the country. </p>
<p>Any help is appreciated.</p>