Host: Our next presenter is a superstar,
a 16-year-old superstar.
I had the pleasure of speaking to her father.
right before this morning.
I asked him because I was looking at her profile
for the past two weeks.
Wow! That is pretty darn awesome.
At 16 years old, right?
She is a student from Saint Francis High School,
passionate about learning.
Her constant curiosity and wonder have motivated her
to pursue independent scientific research,
which led her, by invitation,
to be inducted into Sigma Xi Research Society.
As a father myself, I think to myself,
how do we guide our students
to do wonderful things like this?
Because, at 14, she also created Inspire101.
Inspire101 is a program that mentors middle-schoolers
in their science projects.
At 14, imagine what you were doing at 14.
So ladies and gentlemen,
it is my pleasure to bring up Anjini Karthik
as our next awesome presenter.
(Applause)
Anjini Karthik: When I was five years old, I was so excited.
I was wearing my favorite winter sweater
and playing with a balloon,
when I saw it stick to the wall.
It was like magic.
A few weeks later, I stood proudly
in front of a bright yellow poster board
at my school's science fair,
telling anyone who would listen
about my sticky balloon.
I was presenting, what was literally titled,
"My first big question."
Questions beyond static electricity
quickly became a central part of my life.
When I was in 4th grade, my uncle bought a Prius,
and everybody talked about how it gave 50 miles per galleon.
I looked at it and I just couldn't help but wonder,
why was that car so much better than my dad's Nissan Maxima?
(Laughter)
And then in middle-school,
I decided I was going to challenge my mom's cooking.
I wasn't really a huge fan of her spicy Indian food.
So instead I asked,
"Were these spices even good for us, the way she claimed?"
Every year, I investigated a few of my big questions,
through avenue of science fairs,
starting with my school,
and eventually qualifying for local, states- and national-level symposia.
This constant questioning has brought me to today.
I've been working at university's labs for the last five years.
I'm currently developing a tool
that can accurately detect flu infection within 20 minutes.
And while I might open my research papers
with something like Introduction or Purpose,
instead of the big question,
I strive to be as curious, annoying, and questioning
as I was with that balloon.
Here's what I've noticed.
I volunteer with Science Buddies,
it's an online forum where students of all grade levels
can post for help with their science projects.
I get these kinds of inquiries a lot, like "Urgent; need hypothesis."
Or "Must turn in proposal by tomorrow, please help!"
But this example isarchetypal post.
One day, a student asked me to help him identify
his independent, dependent, and control variables for his experiment.
I didn't want to give him the answer right away.
So instead, I questioned him back,
trying to have him think himself, question himself into figuring it out.
He was pretty irritated.
But after a few back and forth posts,
he had independently and correctly
identified his variables.
And this time, he fully knew why.
But this whole process just sort of got me thinking;
I see posts like this all the time.
Look, "I need 25 similes and 25 metaphors from Huck Fin.
Please tell me which chapter they're in."
(Laughter)
I look at this and I realize
that Wikianswers, Google Answers, Ask.com
are filled with these kinds of inqueries.
And it just made me realize
how much we live in an answer-driven system,
a system where the value of getting to it
is higher than that of sparking an idea.
Because we want the answers,
and we want them now.
But children are inherently curious.
They are questioners.
So, recently, in line of my work, I ask a different sort of big question.
How can I take my experiences,
through which I've come to love learning, to other students,
so that we can maintain that adrenaline rush
that comes from investigation?
I don't have all the answers.
but to start with, two years ago, I launched Inspire101.
It's an initiative where I work with
middle-schoolers and their science teachers
on their science projects, where students ask the questions.
With Inspire101, I've been both an educator and a student.
In order to create a love of learning in students,
we must first create a culture of questioning.
And I believe that this can be accomplished in three main ways.
First, start local.
Understanding the mindset of the local community
is essential to making an impact.
To create this home-grown questioning mindset,
we have to show our siblings, our parents,
and our students right next to us,
that questioning in the home, and in the classroom matters.
Starting in an environment that we are already familiar with
enables us to do this effectively.
Next, look beyond the student.
That one's a little counter-intuitive,
but engaging teachers is vital.
In my experience, students are automatically and immediately
more enthusiastic when their teachers become involved.
Conversely, when teachers come to endorse questioning,
they not only legitimize this mindset
but also reach a much larger audience
than any individual outside source could have.
By giving teachers the resources,
or the toolkit of questioning,
they become the agents of empowerment,
capable of reaching students wherever they may teach.
Finally, always remember that kids are inherently curious.
We don't have to go looking for curiosity
only to remind ourselves
that it's already there.
This is something I learn from Manny.
Manny's a seventh grader,
whom I worked with for a few months,
as he investigated how various levels of music volume
influence concentration.
He eventually presented this project
at Saint Claire County's Regional Science Fair, last March.
Manny independently identified his big question,
and he conducted his experiment
with about 60 of his peers
at Columbia Middle School in Sunnyvale.
remembering to adjust his independent variable,
which was music volume,
in many trials, as he ran between desks and around desks
to turn up the volume or turn it down.
What I didn't know,
actually his teachers told me
only when we were typing up the science fair board,
was that Manny had trouble reading,
had mild testing anxiety,
and was often in and out of special aid classes.
And yet, the question he posed
was the first step
to something that's being investigated by leading psychologists today.
So questioning is unversial.
It pays no attention to resources or even to age.
I like to jokingly say, "Watch "Jeopardy!"
and I mean this figuratively,
although I highly recommend the show, too.
Because sometimes the answers are just right in front of us,
But it's up to us to look at them
and say, "What is..?",
or better, "What can be...?"
So, in that way then, asking questions are a part of us,
and it's a part that transcend science,
or English, or history, or any other such field.
By channeling our questions,
we accelerate our development
as scientists, students, teachers, innovators, and life-long learners.
I am grateful to all my teachers and mentors,
for supporting me as I question.
Without my educators, my big question might have been a solitary one.
I'd like to pose one new big question to all of you:
With all the knowledge, and the curiosity
gathered here in this room alone,
how much can we do to encourage ourselves and others
not to answer but to ask?
Thank you.
(Applause)