Constructing a Winning Science Project

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Constructing a Winning Science Project

• A Workshop
• Presented By
• Daniel Morse, Colton JUSD

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Why do we do Science Fair Projects?
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How does it benefit the student?

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• Advancement along Blooms taxonomy
• Development of Higher Order Thinking Skills --
  H.O.T.S.
• Opportunity for the use of multimedia
  technologies, written and oral presentations,
  exploration of various subject matter in science
• Opportunity for scholarship and recognition

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Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives

• Knowledge Recall of information from
  research, collection of facts
• Comprehension Learner understands and can make
  use of the information
• Application The ability to apply the abstractions
  presented such as applying a formula to calculate
  the area of a triangle.

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• Analysis Ability to categorize information into
  elements such as analyzing why a balloon
  shrinks in cold or expands in hot environments.
• Synthesis Putting the elements together to
  present a whole picture such as collecting data,
  analyzing the data, interpreting the results, and
  presenting the findings.
• Evaluation Ability to make judgments based on
  data and information, such as determining the
  best statistical test method based on a series of
  tests.

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How does it serve the teacher?

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• Multiple tie-ins to the California State
  Standards in Language Arts, Math, and Science.
• A multi-purpose assessment tool.
• Recognition for teachers whose students produce
  winning projects.

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California State Science Standards

• 7th grade example
• Investigation and Experimentation 7. Scientific
  progress is made by asking meaningful questions
  and conducting careful investigations. As a basis
  for understanding this concept and addressing the
  content in the other three strands, students
  should develop their own questions and perform
  investigations. Students will
• a. Select and use appropriate tools and
  technology (including calculators, computers,
  balances, spring scales, microscopes, and
  binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and
  display data.
• b. Use a variety of print and electronic
  resources (including the World Wide Web) to
  collect information and evidence as part of a
  research project.
• c. Communicate the logical connection among
  hypotheses, science concepts, tests conducted,
  data collected, and conclusions drawn from the
  scientific evidence.
• d. Construct scale models, maps, and
  appropriately labeled diagrams to communicate
  scientific knowledge (e. g., motion of Earth's
  plates and cell structure).
• e. Communicate the steps and results from an
  investigation in written reports and oral
  presentations.

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California State Language Arts Oral
Communication Standards

• 6th grade example
• Listening and Speaking1.0 Listening and
  Speaking Strategies Students deliver focused,
  coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly
  and relate to the background and interests of the
  audience. They evaluate the content of oral
  communication.
• Organization and Delivery of Oral
  Communication1.4 Select a focus, an
  organizational structure, and a point of view,
  matching the purpose, message, occasion, and
  vocal modulation to the audience.1.5 Emphasize
  salient points to assist the listener in
  following the main ideas and concepts.1.6
  Support opinions with detailed evidence and with
  visual or media displays that use appropriate
  technology.1.7 Use effective rate, volume,
  pitch, and tone and align nonverbal elements to
  sustain audience interest and attention.

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California State Language ArtsWriting Standards

• 6th grade example
• 2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their
  Characteristics)
• Students write narrative, expository, persuasive,
  and descriptive texts of at least 500 to 700
  words in each genre. Student writing demonstrates
  a command of standard American English and the
  research, organizational, and drafting strategies
  outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.
• 2.2 Write expository compositions (e.g.,
  description, explanation, comparison and
  contrast, problem and solution)a. State the
  thesis or purpose.b. Explain the situation.c.
  Follow an organizational pattern appropriate to
  the type of composition.d. Offer persuasive
  evidence to validate arguments and conclusions as
  needed.
• 2.3 Write research reportsa. Pose relevant
  questions with a scope narrow enough to be
  thoroughly covered.b. Support the main idea or
  ideas with facts, details, examples, and
  explanations from multiple authoritative sources
  (e.g., speakers, periodicals, online information
  searches).c. Include a bibliography.
• 2.5 Write persuasive compositionsa. State a
  clear position on a proposition or proposal.b.
  Support the position with organized and relevant
  evidence.c. Anticipate and address reader
  concerns and counterarguments.

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California State Mathematics Standards

• 5th grade example
• Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability1.0
  Students display, analyze, compare, and interpret
  different data sets, including data sets of
  different sizes
• 1.1 Know the concepts of mean, median, and mode
  compute and compare simple examples to show that
  they may differ. 1.2 Organize and display
  single-variable data in appropriate graphs and
  representations (e.g., histogram, circle graphs)
  and explain which types of graphs are appropriate
  for various data sets.1.3 Use fractions and
  percentages to compare data sets of different
  sizes.1.4 Identify ordered pairs of data from a
  graph and interpret the meaning of the data in
  terms of the situation depicted by the graph.
  1.5 Know how to write ordered pairs correctly
  for example, (x, y).

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California State Mathematics Standards

• 6th grade example
• Algebra and Functions
• 2.0 Students analyze and use tables, graphs, and
  rules to solve problems involving rates and
  proportions
• 2.1 Convert one unit of measurement to another
  (e.g., from feet to miles, from centimeters to
  inches).
• 2.2 Demonstrate an understanding that rate is a
  measure of one quantity per unit value of another
  quantity.
• 2.3 Solve problems involving rates, average
  speed, distance, and time.

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Authentic Assessment

• Is the student actually able to perform and apply
  the standard tasks to a problem or simply recite
  facts?

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Scholarship
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Teacher Recognition
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Opportunities for Interaction with Working
Scientists
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What are the components of a winning science
fair project?

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Types of Science Projects

• There are two types of science projects students
  may do
• Experimental Procedures
• Engineering Goals

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Experimental Procedures

• Experiments test and compare things
• Test a hypothesis that answers a specific
  question
• Collect and analyze data that supports a
  conclusion

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Engineering Goals

• Engineering goals construct things that perform
  tasks.
• Develop a specific need to accomplish a
  performance task.
• Set parameters by which the goal is to be
  accomplished.

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Student Science Fair Project Methodology

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Journals

• The student should begin a detailed journal of
  everything done. A diary format is fine.
• All entries should be substantial. If a procedure
  was tried, the journal should include or refer to
  the exact steps and methods used.
• Data should be recorded accurately with dates and
  times, and any special notes of problems or
  successes.

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• Journals may be computer entries or hand written.
• Any information, resources, graphs, tables,
  problems, and analysis should be included.
• An abstract will be written from this document
  later.

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Developing an Idea
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Look at the lists of science fair categories.
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Science Project Categoriesgrades 4 and 5

• Earth Sciences
• Chemistry
• Biology / Animals
• Biology / other Kingdoms

• Physics
• Consumer Science
• Behavioral Science
• Environmental Education

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Science Project Categoriesgrades 6-12

• 1. Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics
• 2. Applied Mechanics/ Structures Mechanisms/
  Manufacturing
• 3. Behavioral Sciences
• 4. Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology
• 5. Chemistry
• 6. Earth Sciences/ Planetary Sciences/ Physical
  Environments
• 7. Electricity Electronics
• 8. Environmental Engineering
• 9. Environmental Science (Junior Division Only)

• 10. Mammalian Biology
• 11. Materials Science (Junior Division Only)
• 12. Mathematics Software
• 13. Microbiology
• 14. Pharmacology/ Toxicology
• 15. Physics Astronomy
• 16. Plant Biology
• 17. Social Sciences (Junior Division Only
• 18. Structural Capability and Strength of
  Materials (Junior Division Only)
• 19. Zoology

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• Pick one that you are interested in, then narrow
  that down to a project. (example, say you pick
  behavioral science, then narrow it to the
  differences between boys and girls, then to a
  topic like "Do boys remember male oriented
  pictures (such as football) better than female
  oriented pictures (such as flowers)?"

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Use your experiences

• Remember a time you noticed something
  and thought "I wonder how that works?" or "I
  wonder what would happen if..." then turn that
  into a project.

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Library References

• Check the science section of the school
  library. Browse and look at book titles, then
  look inside the ones that look interesting to
  you. Also thumb through encyclopedias and
  magazines. Good magazines for ideas are National
  Geographic, Discover, Omni, Popular Science,
  Popular Mechanics, High Technology, and
  Prevention.
• Go to the downtown or University
  library.

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Current Events

• Look in the newspaper.
• People are hungry in Africa because of droughts -
  a project on growing plants without much rain,
  which types grow with little water?
• Or oil spills- how can we clean them up? - a
  project on how to clean oil out of water.
• Price of electricity is going up - a project on
  alternative energy sources.

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• Add to Other Ideas
• Look at sample projects on-line, look at projects
  in books or projects from last years science
  fair - then add your own question, your own idea
  to them.

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• Originality and content is everything.
• Plagiarism is recognized as such.

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Internet resources

• California State Science Fair
• http//www.usc.edu/CSSF/

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• Discovery Channel School Science Fair Central
  http//school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/
• Mr. McLaren's Science Fair Survival Page
  http//www.ri.net/schools/East_Greenwich/Cole/scie
  ncefair.html
• Ventura County Science Fair http//www.vcsf.us/

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Developing your question.

• Try putting different words in these blanks...
• What is the effect of _________________ on
  _______________?
• Detergent
  germination of seeds
• temperature
  the volume of air
• How/to what extent does the__________affect_______
  ________?
• humidity growth of fungi
• color of a material its absorption of
  heat
• Which/what ___________________ (verb)
  __________________?
• foods do gerbils prefer
  detergent makes the most bubbles

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Purpose

• State your purpose.
• What are you trying to find out?
• Focus the idea.

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Research

• Gather general information about your topic from
  books, magazines, the Internet, people and
  companies.
• Keep notes about where you got your info and
  begin to develop your bibliography.

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• The research report must pertain directly to the
  question.
• The history of flight with the Wright Bros. is a
  start but does not specifically address questions
  of Bernoulli effect surface lift ratios.

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• The research portion of the project is an
  important component of writing standards and is
  an independently developed item.
• Allowing students to submit copied text is not
  acceptable.

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Developing a hypothesis

• The hypothesis is developed before an experiment
  begins and is not an afterthought.

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• A hypothesis is a statement that is tested and
  proved true or false through your experiment.
• It does not matter if the statement ends up true
  or false.
• You only need to find out what the truth is.

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• Your hypothesis can be what you believe the
  answer to your question might be.
• It is more than a guess.
• It is an educated guess based on your research.

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• The hypothesis should be an exact statement of
  fact---
• 200 psi water pressure will cause 1 inch
  schedule 40 PVC piping to burst.
• Not---
• My guess is that high water pressure can
  cause some plastic pipe to break.

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Engineering Projects

• Engineering goals are written like standards with
  minimum specifications to be met, not can I
  build a rope bridge.
• The rope bridge must span 5 meters.
• The rope bridge must support 200 Kg in the middle
  span.
• The rope bridge must not sway more than 0.2
  meters laterally and vertically.
• The rope bridge components must not exceed 10 Kg
  total weight disassembled.

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Developing a Procedure

• Procedures are developed before the project
  begins.
• Procedures must be detailed and accurate enough
  so that any other party can exactly duplicate the
  experiment and get the same results.

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• Decide on and describe how you will change the
  thing you selected.
• Decide on and describe how you will measure your
  results.

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Variables

• Select a variable (something you will
  change/vary) that will help you find your answer.
  
• The variable should one item, not multiple
  conditions being applied all at once. This
  confuses results.
• Everything else should remain constant.

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Controls

• Unlike the variable, a control never changes. It
  is a constant factor.
• The results of the control are what you compare
  the results of the variables with.

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Subjective vs. Objective Data

• Data should be measurable and reproducible, not
  based upon opinions which can change under peer
  pressure or popular trends.

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Measurement

• Rules and good science require metric
  measurement.
• Human factors such as reaction time must be
  minimized and accounted for.
• Appropriate instruments should be used whenever
  possible. Example stopwatch versus wristwatch.

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Recording Data and Observations

• Data should be recorded immediately in neatly
  organized data tables.
• Observations should also be recorded at the time
  data is being collected, not after the fact.

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Run Controlled Experiment and Record Data

• Do the experiment as described above.Keep
  notes in one place. Write down everything you can
  think of in your journal, you might need it
  later.

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Results

• Tables and Data
• Your measurements must be neatly listed in
  organized groups and tables that are properly
  labeled.
• Graphs and ChartsWhat happened? Answer that
  question, then put the results in graphs and
  charts.

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Summary Conclusion

• Your summary should answer the original question
  first.
• Your summary should state whether the hypothesis
  was found true or false, supported or not
  supported.
• Your conclusion must be supported with evidence
  from your data.

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• You may not say something is true unless you can
  prove it is true with evidence you have gathered.
• If your hypothesis was not found exactly true or
  false what did your evidence show? Explain with
  the facts you found.

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Writing Your Abstract

• The abstract must be clear and concise.
• The abstract may be included on your display
  presentation.
• There are four components.

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Objective or Goal

• State the objective, goal, or hypothesis upon
  which the project is based.
• Example My objective was to learn if the feeding
  habits of hummingbirds are affected by color.

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Materials and Methods

• Indicate the materials, methods, and experimental
  design used in your project. Briefly describe
  your experiment or engineering methods.

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Results

• Summarize the results of your experiment and
  indicate how they pertain to your objective.

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Conclusion/Discussion

• Indicate if your results supported your
  hypothesis or enabled you to attain your
  objective. Discuss briefly how information from
  this project expands our knowledge about the
  category subject.

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Project Abstract Examples

• Your abstract is important. Your judges will
  receive this abstract in advance of the Fair so
  that they can preview your work. Your judges will
  be able to better understand your work and
  prepare for your interview if you follow these
  samples or use similar formats.

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The Effect of Surface Finish on Rocket Drag

• Objective My project was to determine if surface
  finish has an effect on the drag of a model
  rocket. I believe that a model with a smooth
  surface will have lower drag and will reach
  higher altitudes.
• Materials and Methods Five model rockets with
  identical size and shape, but different surface
  preparations, were constructed. One rocket was
  left with an unfinished surface, three had
  surfaces finished to various degrees of
  smoothness, and the fifth rocket had its surface
  sealed, primed, sanded to 600 grit, painted, and
  covered with clear gloss. The rockets were
  ballasted to weigh the same and flown 10 times
  each with B5-4 motors.
• Results The rocket with the clear gloss finish
  consistently reached the highest altitudes of all
  5 rockets, while the unfinished rocket
  consistently reached the lowest altitude.
• Conclusions My conclusion is that surface finish
  has an important role in model rocket drag and
  rockets with carefully prepared surfaces will
  reach higher altitudes.

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A sample engineering abstract by Ray Ramirez, a
Colton JUSD 7th grade student

• From left to right are Carroylin Threlkel
  (presenter), Ray Ramirez (First Place), team of
  Joanne F. Arguello and Nicole T. D'Arcy (Second
  Place), Jonathan R. Cook (Third Place), Delara
  Bastani (Honorable Mention), and David Rohy
  (presenter).
• California State Science Fair Category
  WinnersElectricity Electronics Junior Division

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3-D Semiconductor Rainbow Transmission Holography

• The project had four objectives. First, to
  establish the parameters of Slavich PFG-01
  emulsion. Secondly, to establish linear data
  storage within the silver halide emulsions. The
  third objective was to establish volumetric data
  storage, thereby increasing the density of the
  data stored within that area. The fourth
  objective was to retrieve the stored data via a
  laser diode, and transfer such data, via a
  charge-coupled device (CCD) into a digital
  environment.
• To establish emulsion parameters, a series of six
  holograms were exposed. In each exposure, the
  of TEA (Triethanolomine) was varied. To
  accomplish linear data storage, an
  opto-mechanical setup was designed which was
  based upon a 36"x12" breadboard. The setup
  utilized a Fourier Transform to reduce the
  imagery (35mm slides) to 1mm². The holographic
  plate was mounted on an XYZ translator. Five
  exposures were made into a 2.5in.² PFG-01 plate.
  After each exposure, translator was rotated one
  mm on the X-axis. To establish volumetric data
  storage, the translator was rotated on it's
  center axis in six, 16º increments (from 40º to
  140º). To reconstruct the data in a digital
  environment, a laser diode was directed into the
  hologram at the reference angle used to store the
  image. The data was projected onto a diffusing
  screen, where a CCD forwarded the image to a
  computer.

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• It was observed, plates, which were not
  presensitized with TEA, yielded the highest
  diffraction efficiency. Linear data storage was
  successfully established by storing six, 35mm,
  images in an area 6mm x 1mm. Six images were
  successfully stored in a 1mm² area, successfully
  establishing volumetric data storage. A limiting
  phenomenon was observed during volumetric storage
  experiments. In creating a data retrieval system,
  a laser diode proved powerful enough to retrieve
  and project the stored images. Stored data
  (linear and volumetric) that was successfully
  retrieved was forwarded to a computer system
  utilizing a CCD.
• The incorporation of the CCD, allowed for the
  demonstration of a working holographic hard
  drive. The phenomena of cross talk, observed
  while retrieving the volumetrically stored data
  is a physical limitation of holography. This
  occurs when images overlap, during
  reconstruction, causing the integrity of the data
  to be compromised. Further development points in
  the direction of holographic optical elements
  (H.O.E), which would replace optical components,
  yielding a much smaller setup. By incorporating
  H.O.Es, a holographic data storage unit could
  theoretically fit well within the confines of the
  personal computer.
• The project goal was to design and construct a
  holographic data storage system utilizing
  silver-halide media and retrieve data there from.
  
• High-Density Holographic Data Storage Utilizing
  High-Resolution Silver-Halide Media
• Used lab at PCC Prof. Unterseher provided
  procedural consultation

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Displaying the Project
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Size and Complexity
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Stability
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Congestion and Simplicity
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Consider Contrast
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Consider Readability
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Content is Everything
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The Rewards
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein