Discovery Projects: The Quest for Knowledge

What is it?

These projects are all about answering a scientific question. You might start with a hypothesis and then design experiments to test it. Essentially, you’re contributing to the broader scope of human knowledge. This could be anything from “How does the concentration of a reactant affect the rate of a chemical reaction?” to “What is the impact of sleep on academic performance?”

Methodology

• Research: Heavy literature review to understand the existing knowledge in the area.
• Hypothesis: Formulate a question or assumption you want to test.
• Experiment: Design and conduct experiments that allow you to test your hypothesis.
• Data Collection: Collect data through your experiments.
• Analysis: Statistical analysis of the data to prove or disprove your hypothesis.
• Conclusion: Summarize the findings and suggest future research paths.

Who should choose this?

• If you’re curious about how the world works.
• If you enjoy performing experiments.
• If you’re considering a career in scientific research.

Examples

• Studying the effects of different soil types on plant growth.
• Researching how different diets affect the lifespan of a particular animal species.

Innovation Projects: The Solution Creators

What is it?

• Innovation projects are geared towards solving a specific problem or improving an existing solution. Say you’ve noticed that people waste a lot of water while washing dishes. Your project could be designing a water-efficient dishwasher. Or maybe you’ve realized that phone batteries die too quickly, and you want to innovate a new kind of battery technology.

Methodology

• Problem Identification: What problem are you trying to solve?
• Research: Study existing solutions to identify their weaknesses or gaps.
• Ideation: Come up with multiple design ideas to solve the problem.
• Prototype: Build a preliminary version of your solution.
• Testing: Conduct tests to validate the effectiveness of your design.
• Refinement: Make adjustments based on test results.
• Implementation: Apply your solution to real-world scenarios.

Who should choose this?

• If you love solving problems.
• If you enjoy building and creating things.
• If you’re considering a career in engineering or product design.

Examples

• Creating a phone app that helps people find parking spots in a crowded city.
• Designing a more efficient system for recycling plastics.

Key Differences

Factor	Discovery	Innovation
Primary Goal	Answer a scientific question	Solve a problem
Methodology	Experiment-centric	Design-centric
Outcome	Knowledge, academic papers	Products, prototypes, patents
Career Relevance	Research roles, academia	Engineering, design, entrepreneurship

 

So, there you have it! If you’re the type of person who loves asking “why?” and digging deep into understanding the mysteries of the universe, go for a Discovery project. If you’re more into the “how can we make this better?” approach and love tinkering and building stuff, Innovation is your game.